Introduction
Climate change across the world has affected the lives of humans widely. It undermines the rights of an individual by resulting in a decrease in air quality, putting human health at risk. In the last three years, a record-breaking heat has been experienced. The warm temperature of the climate can potentially cause many pollutants and allergens. As a consequence of all this, air quality turns bad, and thus, lung function becomes low and makes people more prone to the development of asthma complications, heart attacks, heart failure, and even death. Air pollution and allergens are the primary exposures that affect lung and heart health in this era of changing climate.
What Is Climate Change?
Climate change is a kind of long-term change in the average weather patterns that comprise the Earth’s local, regional, and global climates. These changes result in a wide range of observed effects that are synonymous with the term.
Multiple changes were observed in Earth’s climate in the mid-20th century and are governed by human activities, particularly burning fossil fuels, which increases the heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere, elevating Earth’s surface temperature.
Scientists conduct various studies from the ground, air, and space using computer models to monitor past, present, and future climate changes continuously. Climate data records give evidence about key climate change indicators like rise in global land and ocean temperature, sea levels, and loss of ice at the poles of Earth and in mountain glaciers. Also, the frequency and severity of changes in extreme weather like hurricanes, heatwaves, wildfires, droughts, floods, precipitation, and cloud and vegetation cover changes are also seen rapidly.
It is seen that climate change is frequently used interchangeably with global warming, but both have different meanings. Also, weather" and "climate" are sometimes misunderstood, though they refer to highly unique spatial and timescale events.
How Are Climate Change and Respiratory Health Interlinked?
1. Climate change is seen to raise the particulate matter levels. The more a person gets exposed to particulate matter, the more their risk for lung and heart problems is elevated. An increased level of particulate matter also shortens the duration of life, and overall life expectancy is also reduced.
2. Climate change leads to an increase in ground-level ozone (a primary constituent of smog). Raised ozone level exposure increases the incidence of asthma attacks and can alleviate allergy symptoms as well. One of the after-effects of climate change is droughts, which occur due to climate change and result in larger and more severe wildfires. The fine particles in smoke can easily reach the lungs and thus affect lung and heart health.
3. Individuals with an existing issue of respiratory function (for example, if they have asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients) are more prone to changes in weather or extreme weather situations, which can directly result in the worsening of their health and an increased risk of getting the disease fatal.
4. Climate change might elevate the ongoing risks for respiratory health, such as exposure to environmental factors like air pollution, pollen, and other aeroallergens, and can affect most of the respiratory results. These include a decrease in lung function, raised allergic susceptibility, and new cases of chronic asthma, COPD, lung cancer, and more and infectious diseases like pneumonia, influenza, tuberculosis, and COVID-19 respiratory diseases, as well as exacerbations of existing respiratory diseases like coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, difficulties breathing, medication use, emergency visits, hospitalizations, and even death sometimes.
5. Most reviews have shown vast summaries of the different mechanisms by which climate change hinders respiratory health, as well as given adaptation strategies. Some of these researches have aimed at specific pathways like respiratory infectious diseases, tough weather events, and air pollution. This statement gives an overview of almost all the links between climate change and respiratory health, as illustrated by recent examples of studies.
6. Living in high temperatures or extreme heat can trigger and exaggerate respiratory issues that might need the incorporation of medication, general practitioner or emergency room visits, and hospital admission, and might even turn fatal. For instance, a recent study conducted in England showed that the risk of hospitalizations because of COPD increases by 1.5 percent per 33° Fahrenheit increase in temperature, with more than 1800 events per year having temperatures above 73° Fahrenheit. Higher temperature exposure can also lead to a decline of pulmonary function in asthmatic patients or elevate asthma exacerbations in children.
7. Certain experiments have shown that changes to the plant flowering season due to climate change will probably extend allergenic seasons and increase human exposure. With warming over the longer term, changing patterns of plant habitat and species density are likely, with gradual movement northward in the Northern Hemisphere and further south in the Southern Hemisphere and associated increased risk of pollen allergy. The change in land use might also play a relevant role, especially for some important allergenic species, such as grasses. Pollen allergy has a remarkable clinical impact on Europe. A body of evidence suggests that prevalence of pollen-related allergic respiratory diseases, e.g. rhinitis and asthma, has increased in past decades
Conclusion
Climate change has drastically led to an increase in the risk of air pollution, as well as ground-level ozone and particle pollution, which will worsen. Climate change can be of two major types. The first is when there is overall progressive warming. Second, when there is a raised variability or unpredictability in weather patterns, both kinds of these changes negatively affect human respiratory health. When the air quality gets worse, increased allergens can lead to worsening of existing diseases. Climate change is also seen to develop conditions like heat and stagnant air, elevating the risk of ozone depletion. As per certain studies, it is seen that increases in respiratory morbidity and mortality worldwide are a direct result of climate change. Grass pollen allergy was recently associated with seasonal asthma exacerbations in a large epidemiological study.
