Environment/Climate Change
Country-level associations of climate related disasters and anxiety disorder Anna Krasnova* Anna Krasnova Krasnova Krasnova Krasnova UCSF
Background: Climate-related natural disasters have lasting biological and psychological consequences, yet evidence on their association with anxiety disorders is limited. We examined country-level association between climate-related disasters and estimated incidence of anxiety disorders across 68 countries from 1990-2019, assessing potential heterogeneity by age and time period.
Methods: Data on climate-related disasters, including extreme temperature, wildfire, storm, flood, and drought, was from the International Disaster Database. Estimated incidence of anxiety disorder by country was obtained from the Global Burden of Disease Collaborative Network. We utilized generalized linear mixed models to estimate the within-country association of annual exposure to climate-related disaster with anxiety disorder incidence, reporting exponentiated regression coefficients (β). Models adjusted for the calendar year, lagged effects of total disaster count, region, proportion of females, number of physicians per 1,000 people, unemployment rate, population density, gross domestic product per capita, life expectancy at birth.
Results: We found heterogeneity by age and time-period in the association between country-level exposure to climate-related disasters and estimated incidence of anxiety disorder. Exposure to 2 or more disasters was associated with a greater incidence of age-standardized anxiety (β = 1.009, 95% CI 1.003, 1.016) in 1990-2004, but not in 2005-2019. In 1990-2004, but not in 2005-2019, exposure to extreme temperature, wildfires, droughts, and 2 or more floods was associated with greater incidence of age-standardized anxiety. Among children age ≤14, exposure to 1 (β = 1.012, 95% CI 1.003, 1.021) and 2 or more (β = 1.015, 95% CI 1.005, 1.025) disasters, respectively, was associated with greater incidence of anxiety in 2005-2019 but not in 1990-2004.
Conclusions: Approaches to address anxiety related to climate change among children and adolescents may be warranted.