Climate change, and its effects on weather patterns and adverse weather events, is likely to negatively affect the health of people with brain conditions, argue a UCL-led team of researchers., the team emphasise the urgent need to understand the impact of climate change on people with neurological conditions -- in order to preserve their health and prevent worsening inequalities.
Professor Sisodiya, who is also Director of Genomics at the Epilepsy Society and a founding member of Epilepsy Climate Change, said:"There is clear evidence for an impact of the climate on some brain conditions, especially stroke and infections of the nervous system. Meanwhile, the team state that people with dementia are susceptible to harm from extremes of temperature and weather events , as cognitive impairment can limit their ability to adapt behaviour to environmental changes.
The researchers note that as adverse weather events increase in severity and global temperatures rise, populations are being exposed to worsening environmental factors that may not have been severe enough to affect brain conditions in some of the earlier studies they reviewed as part of the analysis.