Exposure to heat waves may be tied to depression in adolescents, researchers say
Exposure to oppressive and often life-threatening heat waves has been tied to an increased risk of depression and anxiety in adolescents.
Chinese researchers found that young males and rural students in the East Asian country may be the most susceptible, suggesting that targeted response strategies should be implemented.
'Our findings emphasize the need to develop public health strategies to protect students from the adverse effects of extreme heat,' the authors wrote in a research paper recently published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.
The study's authors were able to estimate exposure to the heat waves by looking at the health data of nearly 20,000 adolescents between the ages of 10 to 18. The data was collected from a national school-based health survey conducted in 2021. Of those, more than half of the adolescents were females and the majority were junior high school students, aged around 15.
Measured using a questionnaire and scale, 19.37 percent and 16.27 percent of adolescents reported depression and anxiety, respectively.
The students' exposure to heat was assessed by using three heatwave metrics: excess heat, maximum temperature and minimum temperature.
They found that there higher odds of depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions for each unit increase in the magnitude of the heat wave. Although, when using different definitions of heat waves, the results were not as consistent.
The study comes as heat waves become more frequent and intense due to the effect of human-caused climate change. The dangerous heat across the East Coast of the U.S. this week was made between three and five times more likely because of climate change, according to the non-profit Climate Central. Heat alerts were also issued in Beijing this week, the official English-language website of China News Service reported.
Research published earlier this year found that the number of people suffering mental health crisis is spiking in areas most impacted by climate change. The authors said young people in southern Madagascar reported extremely high levels of anxiety and depression. In a separate report, authors said that climate change stress is also responsible for symptoms of anxiety.
The effects of heat on mental health have also been established, with hot weather disrupting hormones and sleep and resulting in changes to mood and behavior.
Last summer, the American Psychological Association urged that policy and infrastructure changes been implemented to safeguard mental health from the impact of high temperatures.
'The way we are headed right now, things are only going to get worse,' Dr. Kim Meidenbauer, an assistant professor of psychology at Washington State University, told the association then. 'If we don't even understand the scope of the effect heat is having on us, that bodes poorly for our ability to protect people from the negative psychological consequences.'
Yizhen Yu, a co-author of the new study and professor at the Tongji Medical College at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, told PsyPost that their conclusions highlight the importance of recognizing the well-being of youth during extreme climate events — and the need for policymakers and others to pay attention.
'Policymakers should integrate heat resilience into public health strategies — for example, by revising school safety protocols during heatwaves. Ultimately, meaningful collaboration across health, education, and environmental sectors is essential to protect and promote youth mental health in the face of climate challenges,' he said.
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