The Health Benefits of Urgent Upstream Action on Climate Change
Authors: Renee N. Salas, Kristie L. Ebi
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2021)

Ideas and OpinionsNovember 2021The Health Benefits of Urgent Upstream Action on Climate ChangeRenee N. Salas, MD, MPH and Kristie L. Ebi, PhD, MPHRenee N. Salas, MD, MPHDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, and Harvard Global Health Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts (R.N.S.) and Kristie L. Ebi, PhD, MPHCenter for Health and the Global Environment, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (K.L.E.).Author, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/M21-3347 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail The worst heatwave in modern times in the Pacific Northwest occurred in June 2021, with cities like Portland, Oregon, reaching 116 °F, breaking temperature records by 10 °F or more. Over 600 excess deaths have been reported in Washington and Oregon, with the final toll still pending, making this a mass casualty event. Emergency department visits for heat-related illness were nearly 70 times higher than those at the same time in 2019 (1). It was virtually impossible for this heatwave to have occurred in the absence of climate change (2). Researchers also found that climate change increased the likelihood of the heavy ...References1. Schramm PJ, Vaidyanathan A, Radhakrishnan L, et al. Heat-related emergency department visits during the northwestern heat wave - United States, June 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2021;70:1020-1021. [PMID: 34292925] doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7029e1 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar2. Philip S, Kew SF, Oldenborgh GJ, et al. Rapid attribution analysis of the extraordinary heatwave on the Pacific Coast of the US and Canada June 2021. World Weather Attribution; 2021. Accessed at www.worldweatherattribution.org/wp-content/uploads/NW-US-extreme-heat-2021-scientific-report-WWA.pdf on 27 August 2021. Google Scholar3. Kreienkamp F, Philip SY, Tradowsky JS, et al. Rapid attribution of heavy rainfall events leading to the severe flooding in Western Europe during July 2021. World Weather Attribution; 2021. Accessed at www.worldweatherattribution.org/wp-content/uploads/Scientific-report-Western-Europe-floods-2021-attribution.pdf on 27 August 2021. Google Scholar4. Haines A, Ebi K. The imperative for climate action to protect health. N Engl J Med. 2019;380:263-273. [PMID: 30650330] doi:10.1056/NEJMra1807873 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Summary for policymakers. In: Masson-Delmotte V, Zhai P, Pirani A, et al, eds. Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge Univ Pr; 2021 [Forthcoming]. Google Scholar6. Vicedo-Cabrera AM, Scovronick N, Sera F, et al. The burden of heat-related mortality attributable to recent human-induced climate change. Nat Clim Chang. 2021;11:492-500. [PMID: 34221128] doi:10.1038/s41558-021-01058-x CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar7. Ebi KL, Boyer C, Ogden N, et al. Burning embers: synthesis of the health risks for climate change. Environ Res Lett. 2021;16:004042. Google Scholar8. Hess JJ, Ranadive N, Boyer C, et al. Guidelines for modeling and reporting health effects of climate change mitigation actions. Environ Health Perspect. 2020;128:115001. [PMID: 33170741] doi:10.1289/EHP6745 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar9. Crowley RA; Health and Public Policy Committee of the American College of Physicians. Climate change and health: a position paper of the American College of Physicians. Ann Intern Med. 2016;164:608-10. [PMID: 27089232] doi:10.7326/M15-2766 LinkGoogle Scholar10. Eckelman MJ, Huang K, Lagasse R, et al. Health care pollution and public health damage in the United States: an update. Health Aff (Millwood). 2020;39:2071-2079. [PMID: 33284703] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, and Harvard Global Health Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts (R.N.S.)Center for Health and the Global Environment, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (K.L.E.).Disclosures: Authors have reported no disclosures of interest. Forms can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M21-3347.Corresponding Author: Renee N. Salas, MD, MPH, MS, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Zero Emerson Place, Suite 3B, Boston, MA 02115; e-mail, [email protected]harvard.edu.Current Author Addresses: Dr. Salas: Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Zero Emerson Place, Suite 3B, Boston, MA 02115.Dr. Ebi: Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Hans Rosling Center for Population Health, 3980 15th Avenue NE, Seattle, WA 98195.Author Contributions: Conception and design: K. Ebi, R.N. Salas.Drafting of the article: K. Ebi, R.N. Salas.Critical revision for important intellectual content: K. Ebi, R.N. Salas.Final approval of the article: K. Ebi, R.N. Salas.Administrative, technical, or logistic support: R.N. Salas.This article was published at Annals.org on 7 September 2021. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics November 2021Volume 174, Issue 11Page: 1612-1613KeywordsClimate changeFloodingPrevention, policy, and public healthTemperature ePublished: 7 September 2021 Issue Published: November 2021 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2021 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...