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finding 9.3 : social-determinants-health-interact-climate-factors-affect-health-risk

Climate change threatens the health of people and communities by affecting exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity [High Confidence]. Social determinants of health, such as those related to socioeconomic factors and health disparities, may amplify, moderate, or otherwise influence climate-related health effects, particularly when these factors occur simultaneously or close in time or space [High Confidence].



This finding is from chapter 9 of The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment.

Process for developing key messages: The chapter was developed through technical discussions of relevant evidence and expert deliberation by the report authors at several workshops, teleconferences, and email exchanges. The authors considered inputs and comments submitted by the public, the National Academies of Sciences, and Federal agencies. For additional information on the overall report process, see Appendices 2–3.

The author team identified a number of populations affected by climate change health impacts, including communities of color and low-income, immigrant, and limited English proficiency groups; Indigenous populations; children and pregnant women; older adults; certain occupational groups; persons with disabilities; and persons with chronic medical conditions. This list of populations was identified to reflect current understandings related to how the health of particular groups of people or particular places are affected by climate change in the United States. While not exhaustive, these populations of concern are those most commonly identified and discussed in reviews of climate change health impacts on vulnerable populations. In this chapter, the order of these populations is not prioritized. While there are other populations that may be threatened disproportionately by climate change, the authors focused the sections of this chapter on populations for which there is substantive literature. In addition to this chapter’s summary of vulnerable populations, each of the health outcome chapters in the report includes discussion of populations of concern. Some populations may be covered more extensively in these other chapters; for instance, homeless populations are discussed in Chapter 8: Mental Health, as the literature on this population focuses primarily on mental health.

Description of evidence base: The literature is consistent and the results are compelling that social determinants of health, such as those related to socioeconomic factors and health disparities, will contribute to the nature and extent of vulnerability and health effects due to climate change. The following factors illustrate the depth of the literature supporting the conclusions above regarding the relationship between climate change health threats, vulnerability (comprised of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity), and social determinants of health:


Health risks and vulnerability may increase in locations or instances where combinations of social determinants of health that amplify health threats occur simultaneously or close in time or space.a6491512-ba32-470d-934e-44c3b13d8b96 8ddfda37-f9e3-4848-aa97-6f5eb0704765 For example, people with limited economic resources living in areas with deteriorating infrastructure are more likely to experience disproportionate impacts and are less able to recover following extreme events,77ffab8c-05b9-42ab-bd76-22a19abfb429 fbc277e8-499f-4e93-9c33-1df56a674e71 increasing their vulnerability to climate-related health effects.

New information and remaining uncertainties: A wide range of non-climate factors are expected to interact with climate change health impacts to determine population vulnerability, all with some degree of uncertainty. The extent to which social determinants of health individually and collectively affect the different components of vulnerability is, in many cases, not well understood and not readily amenable to measurement or quantification. Assessing the extent and nature of non-climate impacts as compared to impacts related to climate change is limited by data availability. Many studies of climate change vulnerability have limited geographic scope or focus on single events in particular locations, which makes drawing national-level conclusions more challenging.

Assessment of confidence based on evidence: Based on the evidence presented in the peer-reviewed literature, there is high confidence that climate change threatens the health of people and communities by affecting exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. This conclusion takes into account the consistent evidence presented in multiple studies regarding the causes of vulnerability to climate-related health effects and the role of social determinants of health. There is high confidence based on many peer-reviewed studies that social determinants of health, such as those related to socioeconomic factors and health disparities, may amplify, moderate, or otherwise influence climate-related health effects across populations of concern, and the evidence presented is of good quality, consistent, and compelling.

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