Experts say Extreme Heat May Be Fueling Mental Health Emergencies

A team of researchers have alerted that there is a link between the recent extreme heat around the world due to climate change and the increase in the number of people visiting emergency rooms for mental health crises.

This was stated by some scientists led by Boston University School of Public Health researchers, stating in the ‘case-crossover study’ urged clinicians to expect to see an increase in patients requiring mental health services during the summer seasons.

The case-crossover study used medical claims data obtained from OptumLabs Data Warehouse to identify claims for Emergency Department visits with a primary or secondary discharge psychiatric diagnosis during warm-season months (May to September) from 2010 through 2019.

The study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry found that days of extreme heat were associated with an Incidence Rate Ratio of 1.08 for Emergency Department (ED) visits for any mental health condition.

“Associations between extreme heat and ED visits were found for specific mental health conditions, including substance use disorders, anxiety, stress-related, and somatoform disorders, mood disorders, schizophrenia, schizotypal, and delusional disorders, self-harm and childhood-onset behavioral disorders,” they noted.

They added that the associations were, however, higher among men.

The researchers say it is possible that the association between extreme heat and exacerbation of symptoms for many mental and behavioral disorders is not limited to ED visits but may also include a broader group of people with mental health conditions that may not require emergency care.

“During and following periods of high temperature, mental health and emergency care practitioners may consider increasing capacity to provide necessary mental health services.

“This consideration is particularly important given the potential for climate change to increase both the frequency and severity of extreme temperatures, which may further increase demand for clinical services related to mental health and may also lead to increased direct emotional responses such as anxiety,” they noted.

While the study has some limitations, the researchers concluded that the results of the study suggest that there was an association between elevated ambient temperature and ED visits for any mental health condition and specific mental health diagnoses.

“This finding could aid clinicians who provide mental health services in preparing for increases in health service needs when the high ambient temperature is anticipated.

“Further research could investigate the implications of sustained periods of extreme heat (heat waves) for health outcomes and continue to investigate the association among different populations.

“In addition, future work could characterize the implications of elevated temperatures during cold periods for mental health outcomes and the consequences of additional meteorological characteristics and multiple extreme weather events that may occur with elevated ambient temperature or may be triggered by periods of extreme heat,” the researchers stated.