Climate CHIP Publications

Occupational heat stress assessment and protective strategies in the context of climate change

Authors: 
Chuansi Gao, Kalev Kuklane, Per-Olof Östergren, Tord Kjellstrom
Year: 
2018

Global warming will unquestionably increase the impact of heat on individuals who work in already hot workplaces in hot climate areas. The increasing prevalence of this environmental health risk requires the improvement of assessment methods linked to meteorological data. Such new methods will help to reveal the size of the problem and design appropriate interventions at individual, workplace and societal level.

The 2018 report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change

Authors: 
Watts N, et al. ..... Kjellstrom T, ..... Lemke B, ...... (63 co-authors)
Year: 
2018

The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change was established to provide an independent, global monitoring system dedicated to tracking the health dimensions of the impacts of, and the response to, climate change. The Lancet Countdown tracks 41 indicators across five domains: climate change impacts, exposures, and vulnerability; adaptation, planning, and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health co-benefits; finance and economics; and public and political engagement.

Is ambient heat exposure levels associated with miscarriage or stillbirths in hot regions? A cross-sectional study using survey data from the Ghana Maternal Health Survey 2007

Authors: 
Benedict Asamoah, Tord Kjellstrom, Per-Olof Östergren
Year: 
2018

It is well established that high ambient heat could cause congenital abnormalities resulting in miscarriage or stillbirth among certain species of mammals. However, this has not been systematically studied in real field settings among humans, despite the potential value of such knowledge for estimating the impact of global warming on the human species.

Invited editorial: climate change impacts on working people: how to develop prevention policies

Authors: 
Nilsson M, Kjellstrom T.
Year: 
2018

The evidence on negative consequences from climate change on human health and well-being is growing (1–5). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) described climate change as a threat to the climate system that sets the basis for life and human health conditions (6). The changing climate is expected to affect basic requirements needed to support and sustain human health such as good food, clean water, and unpolluted air, with negative effects that are expected to be unequally distributed.

Estimating population heat exposure and impacts on working people in conjunction with climate change

Authors: 
Tord Kjellstrom, Chris Freyberg, Bruno Lemke, Matthias Otto, David Briggs
Year: 
2018

Increased environmental heat levels as a result of climate change present a major challenge to the health, wellbeing and sustainability of human communities in already hot parts of this planet. This challenge has many facets from direct clinical health effects of daily heat exposure to indirect effects related to poor air quality, poor access to safe drinking water, poor access to nutritious and safe food and inadequate protection from disease vectors and environmental toxic chemicals. The increasing environmental heat is a threat to environmental sustainability.

Impact of climate change on occupational health and productivity: a systematic literature review focusing on workplace heat

Authors: 
Levi M, Kjellstrom T, Baldasseroni A
Year: 
2018

Background: With climate change, mean annual air temperatures are getting hotter and extreme weather events will become more and more common in most parts of the world. Objectives: As part of the EU funded project HEAT-SHIELD we conducted a systematic review to summarize the epidemiological evidence of the effects of global warming-related heat exposure on workers’ health and productivity.

Recruitment, Methods, and Descriptive Results of a Physiologic Assessment of Latino Farmworkers: The California Heat Illness Prevention Study

Authors: 
Mitchell DC, Castro J, Armitage TL, Vega-Arroyo AJ, Moyce SC, Tancredi DJ, Bennett DH, Jones JH, Kjellstrom T, Schenker MB
Year: 
2017

Objective: The California heat illness prevention study (CHIPS) devised methodology and collected physiological data to assess heat related illness (HRI) risk in Latino farmworkers. Methods: Bilingual researchers monitored HRI across a workshift, recording core temperature, work rate (metabolic equivalents [METs]), and heart rate at minute intervals. Hydration status was assessed by changes in weight and blood osmolality. Personal data loggers and a weather station measured exposure to heat. Interviewer administered questionnaires were used to collect demographic and occupational information.