The Irish health service faces the risk of being overwhelmed by a surge in neurological diseases due to rising temperatures linked to climate change, according to a new study.
A team of doctors has called for urgent planning and the introduction of emergency protocols, highlighting the effect of climate change on conditions such as stroke, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis, reports Breaking News.
They noted that climate change has caused a significant rise in global temperatures and an increase in extreme heat events, with the past decade being the warmest on record in Ireland.
Growing evidence indicates that both the incidence and severity of many common neurological conditions are influenced by climate change, the neurologists wrote in an article in the latest issue of the Irish Journal of Medical Science, reports Breaking News.
The researchers warned that higher temperatures could worsen existing neurological conditions and increase hospital presentations, placing unsustainable pressure on Irish health services.
“A small increase in demand for already stretched public services has the potential to dramatically overwhelm the health system,” the authors wrote, reports Breaking News.
“It is essential for the Irish medical community to be aware of this and to consider the potential impact the changing climate will have on other disciplines and service demands,” they added.
The study found that the incidence of stroke increases at both hot and cold temperature extremes, while air pollution has also been identified as a significant risk factor, reports Breaking News.
There is a well-established link between epilepsy presentations and extreme temperatures, and heat and humidity also play important roles in seizure frequency.
Some antiseizure medications reduce sweating, complicating thermoregulation for patients and creating challenges amid rising global temperatures, the authors said, reports Breaking News.
Previous studies have linked high temperatures to an increase in migraine presentations, with hospital admissions rising by 7.5 per cent for every five-degree Celsius increase.
Given that headaches account for 42 per cent of neurology consultations at tertiary centres, any rise in presentations would place a “significant burden” on services, with increased hospital admissions and demand for brain imaging, reports Breaking News.
Multiple sclerosis is “strongly influenced” by climate, with up to 80 per cent of patients experiencing heat sensitivity, and warmer seasons are associated with brain lesion activity and reduced cognitive performance.
“As global temperatures rise, individuals with MS appear to be a particularly vulnerable population, given the well-established link between heat and symptom worsening in the disorder,” the authors wrote, reports Breaking News.
The neurologists concluded that global warming would inevitably strain the Irish health service and called for open discussion about how rising temperatures may affect medical conditions.
They recommended that patients be provided with guidance and that emergency protocols be implemented for the most vulnerable during heatwaves, reports Breaking News.
“There is something uniquely tragic in the brain’s vulnerability to the changing climate and the cognitive dissonance that allows us to accept these facts yet to do very little about it,” they concluded, reports Breaking News.
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