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AAP statement cites dangers of global warming on pediatric health

WASHINGTON — Global climate change has a direct impact on the health of children worldwide — adding risks such as heat stress, diminished air quality and increased infections — and requires a joint effort by pediatricians and politicians, according to a policy released by the AAP.

The authors wrote that rising greenhouse gases and climate change are putting exponential pressure on the planet as a result of population increases and energy production. This change also poses a threat to the biological mechanics of children, causing an incalculable decrease in quality of life. Children are innately more vulnerable than adults due to their immature physiology, they wrote. As a result, an estimated 88% of the global burden of diseases related to global warming occurs in children aged younger than 5 years.

The statement detailed specific areas of child health that are most affected by global warming. They include:

• heat stress, which puts children aged younger than 1 year at a significant risk for heat-related mortality;
• child athletes also are at an increased risk for exertion-related heat injury;
• climate change, which increases the potential for the spread of infectious diseases by fostering insect populations and creating optimal conditions for some infectious bacteria;
• natural disaster related to climate change causes posttraumatic stress and other mental health issues; and,
• grain protein content is reduced by diminished air quality, putting children at risk for malnutrition.

“Children are uniquely at risk to the direct impacts of climate changes like climate-related disaster — including floods and storms — where they are exposed to increased risk of injury, death, loss of or separation from caregivers and mental health consequences,” Samantha Ahdoot, MD, of the AAP’s Council on Environmental Health, said in a news release. “They are also more vulnerable to the secondary impacts of global warming, like disease. For example, Lyme disease affects approximately 300,000 Americans each year, with boys, ages 5 to 9, at greatest risk. Climate warming has been linked to northern expansion of Lyme disease in North America, putting more American children at risk of this disease.”

According to the statement, climate change specifically promotes the spread of infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, West Nile virus, chikungunya, Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, diarrheal illness, amebic meningoencephalitis and coccidioidomycosis.

Global climate change is forecast to cause an additional 48,000 child deaths related to diarrheal disease by 2030.

“Ongoing research into the links between climate and health outcomes and the development of medical and public health interventions to protect individuals and communities from inevitable changes is needed,” Ahdoot and colleagues wrote. “Pediatricians, as advocates for the population most vulnerable to climate change health effects, have a valuable role to play in this movement.”

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.