Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Climate Change
Climate is the average weather in a place over a period of time. Climate change is major change in temperature, rainfall, snow, or wind patterns lasting for many years. It can be caused by natural factors or by human activities. Today climate changes are occurring at an increasingly rapid rate.
Climate change can affect our health. It can lead to:
- More heat-related illness and deaths
- More pollen, mold, and air pollution. This can cause an increase in allergies, asthma, and breathing problems.
- Mosquitoes and other insects that carry diseases spreading to areas that used to be too cold for them.
- More floods and rising sea levels. This can cause an increase in contamination of food and water.
- More extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and wildfires. These can cause death, injuries, stress, and mental health problems.
Researchers are studying the best ways to lessen climate change and reduce its impact on our health.
It sits within Poisoning, Toxicology, Environmental Health.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Climate Change
83 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- USE LESS, a Comparative Cohort Study of Climate Change Impact From Orthopedic SurgeryKarolinska Institutet
- Mitigation of Health Effects in Outdoor Workers by Reducing Exposure to Heat and Air PollutionUniversity of Cyprus
- Promoting Interventions for Climate Change to Upscale Resilience in District BadinDr Jai Kumar Das
- Promoting Interventions for Climate Change to Upscale Resilience in District AstoreDr Jai Kumar Das
- Study on Intervention Effect of Heat-related Health Risk Early Warning Digital Technology for School-age ChildrenCenters for Disease Control and Prevention, China
- Mitigation of Health Effects in Pregnant Women by Reducing Exposure to Heat and Air PollutionUniversity of Cyprus
Research already completed
- Impact of a Climate-Adapted Self-Management Intervention for Hypertension: A Randomized Controlled Trial Examining Psychosocial and Environmental DeterminantsFatima Jinnah Women University
- Can Nursing Students' Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Climate ChangeKastamonu University
- Impact of Climate Change Education on Nursing Students' AwarenessKoç University
- The Effect of Healthy Environment Education on Primary School Students' Attitudes Towards EnvironmentAydin Adnan Menderes University
- Effectiveness of Climate Change Awareness Education in Secondary School StudentsIstanbul Medeniyet University
- ECOLOGICAL MESSAGE FRAMING AND SUSTAINABLE MENSTRUAL PRODUCT CHOICESAnkara Medipol University
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Learn More
- Climate Change and HealthWorld Health Organization
- Climate Change: Annual Greenhouse Gas IndexNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Climate Effects on HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
- EarthNational Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Fast Facts on Climate Change and HealthWorld Health Organization
- Greenhouse GasesDepartment of Energy
- Transportation, Air Pollution, and Climate ChangeEnvironmental Protection Agency
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Climate ChangeNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Climate Change. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Climate Change, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.