Sydney: Extreme heat significantly increases the risk of mental health hospitalizations among young people, according to a large Australian study. The study highlights the growing public health concern surrounding climate change.
“Climate change is already impacting the mental health of children and young people in many ways,” said study co-author Cybele Day, an adolescent psychiatrist at the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, Guardian Australia reported on Tuesday.
Led by the University of Sydney, the study examined 720,000 hospitalizations of people up to 24 years of age in the state of New South Wales between 2001 and 2022. It found that when temperatures reached the top 1 percent of all records, the risk of hospitalization doubled in hot months and tripled in cold months.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, estimates that global warming could increase the number of patients hospitalized for heat-related mental health issues by 6% to 7.7% by the end of the century, Xinhua News Agency reported.
This includes only the most severe cases requiring hospitalization—such as depression, schizophrenia, substance abuse, eating disorders, and self-harm—and excludes emergency and outpatient visits.
The researchers said the rapid increase in hospitalizations following heat waves indicates a physiological response, possibly linked to sleep disturbances, stress, changes in brain function, increased impulsivity, and alcohol or other substance use.
According to Guardian Australia, these findings highlight the need to incorporate psychological risks into heat-related health planning and policy.
