5 Unexpected Ways Climate Change is Impacting Health

Climate change is the single greatest public health crisis of our time. By 2050, climate impacts are expected to result in an estimated 14.5 million more deaths and $1.1 trillion in extra costs to healthcare systems. But it’s not just natural disasters and extreme weather that are to blame. There are significant chronic impacts that are happening now, gradually increasing in severity, and changing health outcomes.

Here are five ways that climate change is impacting health today that you might not have thought about.

1. Medicines are more difficult to store and dose. Temperature-sensitive drugs like insulin and inhalers can degrade or malfunction when exposed to heat. Insulin not only loses potency at high temperatures but may also be absorbed more quickly as skin temperature rises, making blood sugar harder to control. Certain psychiatric medications, including SSRIs, can impair the body’s ability to regulate heat and increase the risk of heat-related illness during heatwaves.

High temperatures can cause insulin to be absorbed more quickly, increasing the risk of hypoglycemia (dangerously low blood sugar) for people with diabetes.

2. Existing conditions are being exacerbated. High ambient temperatures can result in higher hospital admissions for mental and behavioral disorders like anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia. Air quality and pollution worsens conditions like asthma, COPD, and respiratory infections. Rising sea levels cause salination of coastal water tables, increasing the frequency and severity of hypertension.

In Australia, a one-unit increase in temperature was associated with a 0.2% increase in the likelihood of experiencing high or very high psychological distress

3. Infectious disease maps are becoming outdated. Vector-borne diseases are shifting as climate and environments change. They’re becoming harder to identify, track, and anticipate. Pathogenic fungi are adapting to warmer temperatures by mutating, creating novel human infections.

More than half of human infectious diseases (58%) have been aggravated by climate hazards at some point.

4. Our food is losing nutritional value. Droughts, extreme heat, and flooding disrupt global agriculture, leading to reduced overall crop yields. Beyond quantity, studies show that rising atmospheric carbon dioxide can lower the nutritional density of staple crops (like rice and wheat), resulting in lower levels of protein, zinc, and iron. This is contributing to widespread malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies.

Wheat grown under projected CO2​ levels is estimated to have 5.9-12.7% less protein, 3.7-6.5% less zinc, and 5.2-7.5% less iron.

5. Healthcare delivery is breaking down. Healthcare workers are on the front lines, facing increased burnout and mental strain from mass casualty events, chronic resource shortages, and treating climate-related illnesses. Medical supply chains are becoming fragile: when transport routes are interrupted by fire or flood, the flow of critical medicines and equipment stops, impacting patient care miles away from the disaster zone.

During the 2022 French heatwaves, emergency room visits for heat-related illnesses doubled, and doctor consultations tripled, compared to non-heatwave periods.

These impacts are no longer hypothetical future emergencies. The best place for healthcare leaders to start is by understanding how climate change will impact people and patients. Which populations are most vulnerable? Where do they live and work? What does this mean for staffing, operations, and medical supplies in the future?

Analyzing the intersection of climate and health effects is complex and difficult. At Groundswell, we make it easy for you to build patient climate risk profiles and forecast climate, socioeconomic, and demographics scenarios for your operations. Get in touch with us to learn more.