The interplay between climate change and ageing: A systematic review of health indicators

RESEARCH ARTICLE The interplay between climate change and ageing: A systematic review of health indicators Teodora Figueiredo1☯, Luı´s MidãoID1☯, Pedro Rocha2, Sara CruzID3, Gisela LameiraID4, Paulo Conceic¸ãoID3, Rui J. G. RamosID4, Luı´sa Batista3, Helena Corvacho5, Marta Almada1, Ana Martins4, Cecı´lia RochaID3, Anabela Ribeiro6, Fernando Alves3, Elı´sio Costa1* 1 Porto4Ageing—Competence Center on Active and Healthy Ageing of the University of Porto, Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Porto, Associate Laboratory i4HB—Institute for Health and Bioeconomy and UCIBIO—Applied Biomolecular Sciences Unit, Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Porto, Porto, Portugal, 2 CINTESIS@RISE, “Department of Behavioral Sciences”, ICBAS, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal, 3 CITTA–Research Centre for Territory, Transports and Environment, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Porto, Portugal, 4 Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal, 5 CONSTRUCT (LFC), Faculty of Engineering University of Porto, Porto, Portugal, 6 CITTA–Research Centre for Territory, Transports and Environment, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal ☯ These authors contributed equally to this work. * emcosta@ff.up.pt Abstract Climate change and rapid population ageing pose challenges for communities and public policies. This systematic review aims to gather data from studies that present health indica-

tors establishing the connection between climate change and the physical and mental health of the older population (� 65 years), who experience a heightened vulnerability to the impacts of climate change when compared to other age cohorts. This review was conducted according to the PICO strategy and following Cochrane and PRISMA guidelines. Three databases (PubMed, Scopus and Greenfile) were searched for articles from 2015 to 2022. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria,nineteen studies were included. The findings indicated that various climate change phenomena are associated with an elevated risk of mortality and morbidity outcomes in older adults. These included cardiovascular, respira- tory, renal, and mental diseases, along with physical injuries. Notably, the impact of climate change was influenced by gender, socioeconomic status, education level, and age—vulner- ability factors. Climate change directly affected the health of older adults through ambient temperature variability, extreme and abnormal temperatures, strong winds, sea temperature variability, extreme El Niño-southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions and droughts, and indi- rectly by air pollution resulting from wildfires. This review presents further evidence confirm- ing that climate change significantly impacts the health and well-being of older adults. It highlights the urgency for implementing effective strategies to facilitate adaptation and miti- gation, enhancing the overall quality of life for all individuals. PLOS ONE

PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297116 April 24, 2024 1 / 17 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 OPEN ACCESS Citation: Figueiredo T, Midão L, Rocha P, Cruz S, Lameira G, Conceic¸ão P, et al. (2024) The interplay between climate change and ageing: A systematic review of health indicators. PLoS ONE 19(4): e0297116. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0297116 Editor: Oyelola A. Adegboye, Menzies School of Health Research: Charles Darwin University, AUSTRALIA Received: July 12, 2023 Accepted: December 28, 2023 Published: April 24, 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Figueiredo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All relevant data, including search strategies and inclusion and exclusion criteria, are within the manuscript. Funding: We acknowledge the institution who funds our research team. This work was supported by FCT-Fundac¸ão para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I. P., in the scope of the project UIDP/04378/2020 (to LM and TF) and UIDB/04378/2020 of the Research Unit on Applied Molecular Biosciences-UCIBIO and the project LA/P/0140/2020 of the Associate