THE RISING HEALTH TOLL OF A CHANGING CLIMATE: In 2023, the world saw the highest global temperatures in over 100 000 years, and heat records were broken in all continents through 2022. Adults older than 65 years and infants younger than 1 year, for whom extreme heat can be particularly life-threatening, are now exposed to twice as many heatwave days as they would have experienced in 1986–2005 (indicator 1.1.2). Harnessing the rapidly advancing science of detection and attribution, new analysis shows that over 60% of the days that reached health-threatening high temperatures in 2020 were made more than twice as likely to occur due to anthropogenic climate change (indicator 1.1.5); and heat-related deaths of people older than 65 years increased by 85% compared with 1990–2000, substantially higher than the 38% increase that would have been expected had temperatures not changed (indicator 1.1.5). Simultaneously, climate change is damaging the natural and human systems on which people rely for good health. The global land area affected by extreme drought increased from 18% in 1951–60 to 47% in 2013–22 (indicator 1.2.2), jeopardising water security, sanitation, and food production. A higher frequency of heatwaves and droughts in 2021 was associated with 127 million more people experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity compared with 1981–2010 (indicator 1.4), putting millions of people at risk of malnutrition and potentially irreversible health effects. The changing climatic conditions are also putting more populations at risk of life-threatening infectious diseases, such as dengue, malaria, vibriosis, and West Nile virus (indicator 1.3). Compounding these direct health impacts, the economic losses associated with global heating increasingly harm livelihoods, limit resilience, and restrict the funds available to tackle climate change. Economic losses from extreme weather events increased by 23% between 2010–14 and 2018–22, amounting to US$264 billion in 2022 alone (indicator 4.1.1), whereas heat exposure led to global potential income losses worth $863 billion (indicators 1.1.4 and 4.1.3). Labour capacity loss resulting from heat exposure affected low and medium Human Development Index (HDI) countries the most, exacerbating global inequities, with potential income losses equivalent to 6·1% and 3·8% of their gross domestic product (GDP), respectively (indicator 4.1.3). The multiple and simultaneously rising risks of climate change are amplifying global health inequities and threatening the very foundations of human health. Health systems are increasingly strained, and 27% of surveyed cities declared concerns over their health systems being overwhelmed by the impacts of climate change (indicator 2.1.3). Often due to scarce financial resources and low technical and human capacity, the countries most vulnerable to climate impacts also face the most challenges in achieving adaptation progress, reflecting the human risks of an unjust transition. Only 44% of low HDI countries and 54% of medium HDI countries reported high implementation of health emergency management capacities in 2022, compared with 85% of very high HDI countries (indicator 2.2.5). Additionally, low and medium HDI countries had the highest proportion of cities not intending to undertake a climate change risk assessment in 2021 (12%; indicator 2.1.3). These inequalities are aggravated by the persistent failure of the wealthiest countries to deliver the promised modest annual sum of $100 billion to support climate action in those countries defined as developing within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Consequently, those countries that have historically contributed the least to climate change are bearing the brunt of its health impacts—both a reflection and a direct consequence of the structural inequities that lie within the root causes of climate change.
THE HUMAN COSTS OF PERSISTENT INACTION: The growing threats experienced to date are early signs and symptoms of what a rapidly changing climate could mean for the health of the world’s populations. With 1337 tonnes of CO2 emitted each second, each moment of delay worsens the risks to people’s health and survival. In this year’s report, new projections reveal the dangers of further delays in action, with every tracked health dimension worsening as the climate changes. If global mean temperature continues to rise to just under 2°C, annual heat-related deaths are projected to increase by 370% by midcentury, assuming no substantial progress on adaptation (indicator 1.1.5). Under such a scenario, heat-related labour loss is projected to increase by 50% (indicator 1.1.4), and heatwaves alone could lead to 524·9 million additional people experiencing moderate-to-severe food insecurity by 2041–60, aggravating the global risk of malnutrition. Life-threatening infectious diseases are also projected to spread further, with the length of coastline suitable for Vibrio pathogens expanding by 17–25%, and the transmission potential for dengue increasing by 36–37% by midcentury. As risks rise, so will the costs and challenges of adaptation. These estimates provide some indication of what the future could hold. However, poor accounting for non-linear responses, tipping points, and cascading and synergistic interactions could render these projections conservative, disproportionately increasing the threat to the health of populations worldwide.
A WORLD ACCELERATING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION: The health risks of a 2°C hotter world underscore the health imperative of accelerating climate change action. With limits to adaptation drawing closer, ambitious mitigation is paramount to keep the magnitude of health hazards within the limits of the capacity of health systems to adapt. Yet years of scientific warnings of the threat to people’s lives have been met with grossly insufficient action, and policies to date have put the world on track to almost 3°C of heating. The 2022 Lancet Countdown report highlighted the opportunity to accelerate the transition away from health-harming fossil fuels in response to the global energy crisis. However, data this year show a world that is often moving in the wrong direction. Energy-related CO2 emissions increased by 0·9% to a record 36·8 Gt in 2022 (indicator 3.1.1), and still only 9·5% of global electricity comes from modern renewables (mainly solar and wind energy), despite their costs falling below that of fossil fuels. Concerningly, driven partly by record profits, oil and gas companies are further reducing their compliance with the Paris Agreement: the strategies of the world’s 20 largest oil and gas companies as of early 2023 will result in emissions surpassing levels consistent with the Paris Agreement goals by 173% in 2040—an increase of 61% from 2022 (indicator 4.2.6). Rather than pursuing accelerated development of renewable energy, fossil fuel companies allocated only 4% of their capital investment to renewables in 2022. Meanwhile, global fossil fuel investment increased by 10% in 2022, reaching over $1 trillion (indicator 4.2.1). The expansion of oil and gas extractive activities has been supported through both private and public financial flows. Across 2017–21, the 40 banks that lend most to the fossil fuel sector collectively invested $489 billion annually in fossil fuels (annual average), with 52% increasing their lending from 2010–16. Simultaneously, in 2020, 78% of the countries assessed, responsible for 93% of all global CO2 emissions, still provided net direct fossil fuels subsidies totalling $305 billion, further hindering fossil fuel phase-out (indicator 4.2.4). Without a rapid response to course correct, the persistent use and expansion of fossil fuels will ensure an increasingly inequitable future that threatens the lives of billions of people alive today.
THE OPPORTUNITY TO DELIVER A HEALTHY FUTURE FOR ALL: Despite the challenges, data also expose the transformative health benefits that could come from the transition to a zero-carbon future, with health professionals playing a crucial role in ensuring these gains are maximised. Globally, 775 million people still live without electricity, and close to 1 billion people are still served by health-care facilities without reliable energy. With structural global inequities in the development of, access to, and use of clean energy, only 2·3% of electricity in low HDI countries comes from modern renewables (against 11% in very high HDI countries), and 92% of households in low HDI countries still rely on biomass fuels to meet their energy needs (against 7·5% in very high HDI countries; indicators 3.1.1 and 3.1.2). In this context, the transition to renewables can enable access to decentralised clean energy and, coupled with interventions to increase energy efficiency, can reduce energy poverty and power high quality health-supportive services. By reducing the burning of dirty fuels (including fossil fuels and biomass), such interventions could help avoid a large proportion of the 1·9 million deaths that occur annually from dirty-fuel-derived, outdoor, airborne, fine particulate matter pollution (PM2·5; indicator 3.2.1), and a large proportion of the 78 deaths per 100 000 people associated with exposure to indoor air pollution (indicator 3.2.2). Additionally, the just development of renewable energy markets can generate net employment opportunities with safer, more locally available jobs. Ensuring countries, particularly those facing high levels of energy poverty, are supported in the safe development, deployment, and adoption of renewable energy is key to maximising health gains and preventing unjust extractive industrial practices that can harm the health and livelihoods of local populations and widen health inequities. With fossil fuels accounting for 95% of road transport energy (indicator 3.1.3), interventions to enable and promote safe active travel and zero-emission public transport can further deliver emissions reduction, promote health through physical activity, and avert many of the 460 000 deaths caused annually by transport-derived PM2·5 pollution (indicator 3.2.1), and some of the 3·2 million annual deaths related to physical inactivity. People-centred, climate-resilient urban redesign to improve building energy efficiency, increase green and blue spaces, and promote sustainable cooling, can additionally prevent heat-related health harms, avoid air-conditioning-derived emissions (indicator 2.2.2), and provide direct physical and mental health benefits. Additionally, food systems are responsible for 30% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with 57% of agricultural emissions in 2020 being derived from the production of red meat and milk (indicator 3.3.1). Promoting and enabling equitable access to affordable, healthy, low-carbon diets that meet local nutritional and cultural requirements can contribute to mitigation, while preventing many of the 12·2 million deaths attributable to suboptimal diets (indicator 3.3.2). The health community could play a central role in securing these benefits, by delivering public health interventions to reduce air pollution, enabling and supporting active travel and healthier diets, and promoting improvements in the environmental conditions and commercial activities that define health outcomes. Importantly, the health sector can lead by example and transition to sustainable, resource-efficient, net-zero emission health systems, thereby preventing its 4·6% contribution to global GHG emissions, with cascading impacts ultimately affecting the broader economy (indicator 3.4). Some encouraging signs of progress offer a glimpse of the enormous human benefits that health-centred action could render. Deaths attributable to fossil-fuel-derived air pollution have decreased by 15·7% since 2005, with 80% of this reduction being the result of reduced coal-derived pollution. Meanwhile the renewable energy sector expanded to a historical high of 12·7 million employees in 2021 (indicator 4.2.2); and renewable energy accounted for 90% of the growth in electricity capacity in 2022 (indicator 3.1.1). Supporting this, global clean energy investment increased by 15% in 2022, to $1·6 trillion, exceeding fossil fuel investment by 61% (indicator 4.2.1); and lending to the green energy sector rose to $498 billion in 2021, approaching fossil fuel lending (indicator 4.2.7). Scientific understanding of the links between health and climate change is rapidly growing, and although coverage lags in some of the most affected regions, over 3000 scientific articles covered this topic in 2022 (indicators 5.3.1 and 5.3.2). Meanwhile, the health dimensions of climate change are increasingly acknowledged in the public discourse, with 24% of all climate change newspaper articles in 2022 referring to health, just short of the 26% in 2020 (indicator 5.1). Importantly, international organisations are increasingly engaging with the health co-benefits of climate change mitigation (indicator 5.4.2), and governments increasingly acknowledge this link, with 95% of updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement now referring to health—up from 73% in 2020 (indicator 5.4.1). These trends signal what could be the start of a life-saving transition.
A PEOPLE-CENTRED TRANSFORMATION: PUTTING HEALTH AT THE HEART OF CLIMATE ACTION: With the world currently heading towards 3°C of heating, any further delays in climate change action will increasingly threaten the health and survival of billions of people alive today. If meaningful, the prioritisation of health in upcoming international climate change negotiations could offer an unprecedented opportunity to deliver health-promoting climate action and pave the way to a thriving future. However, delivering such an ambition will require confronting the economic interests of the fossil fuel and other health-harming industries, and delivering science-grounded, steadfast, meaningful, and sustained progress to shift away from fossil fuels, accelerate mitigation, and deliver adaptation for health. Unless such progress materialises, the growing emphasis on health within climate change negotiations risks being mere healthwashing; increasing the acceptability of initiatives that minimally advance action, and which ultimately undermine—rather than protect—the future of people alive today and generations to come. Safeguarding people’s health in climate policies will require the leadership, integrity, and commitment of the health community. With its science-driven approach, this community is uniquely positioned to ensure that decision makers are held accountable, and foster human-centred climate action that safeguards human health above all else. The ambitions of the Paris Agreement are still achievable, and a prosperous and healthy future still lies within reach. But the concerted efforts and commitments of health professionals, policy makers, corporations, and financial institutions will be needed to ensure the promise of health-centred climate action becomes a reality that delivers a thriving future for all.
METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study carried out in HCTM, UKM, Kuala Lumpur. TS participants who attended clinic in HCTM, UKM and controls who were hospital staff members were recruited via purposive sampling. TS participants' sociodemographic and clinical profiles were retrieved from medical records. Two validated, translated questionnaires; World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire and Body Image Disturbances Questionnaires (BIDQ) were completed by participants.
RESULTS: A total of 34 TS patients were approached and 24 (70.5%) of them participated in this study. Their median (IQR) age was 24.0 (7.0) years and their responses were compared to 60 age-matched healthy females as controls [median age (IQR) = 24.0 (8.0) years]. The most common medical problem in TS participants was premature ovarian insufficiency (n = 23; 95.8%). There were no significant differences between TS and control groups' median scores (overall QOL; 4.00 vs. 4.00, general health; 3.50 vs. 4.00, physical health; 14.86 vs. 15.43, psychological health; 14.67 vs. 14.00 and environment; 15.00 vs. 15.50) of the different WHOQOL-BREF domains. However, TS participants were found to score 13.33 against 16.00, lower than the control group (p
PURPOSE: The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the significance of geometric heterogeneity on complete arch implant scanning by using a novel auxiliary geometric device. Three different clinical simulations were tested to assess its significance. The study also assessed whether scans produced using the auxiliary device would meet a clinically acceptable threshold.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 60 scans (n=20) were performed using an intraoral scanner in 3 different clinical simulations: 2 parallel implants, 4 parallel implants, and 4 implants with a 30-degree posterior angulation of the distal implants. Scanning alternated between using the auxiliary geometric scanning device (test groups; 4IP+, 4IA+, 2IP+) and not using the device (control groups; 4IP-, 4IA-, 2IP-). A reference scan for each model was prepared from a high precision laboratory scanner. The scans were analyzed for accuracy in 3-dimensional deviation, interimplant distance deviation, and angular deviation by using an inspection software program. The effect of the auxiliary device was statistically analyzed by comparing scans of the same group using the paired t test for normally distributed data and the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test when data were not normally distributed (α=.05).
RESULTS: Significant effects of the auxiliary geometric device were found in 3-dimensional, distance and angular deviations (P
RECENT FINDINGS: There has been a growing appreciation for an independent link between NAFLD and CVD, culminating in a scientific statement by the American Heart Association in 2022. More recently, studies have begun to identify biomarkers of the three NAFLD phases as potent predictors of cardiovascular risk. Despite the body of evidence supporting a connection between hepatic biomarkers and CVD, more research is certainly needed, as some studies find no significant relationship. If this relationship continues to be robust and readily reproducible, NAFLD and its biomarkers may have an exciting role in the future of cardiovascular risk prediction, possibly as risk-enhancing factors or as components of novel cardiovascular risk prediction models.
METHODS: The main data source in this study was the MY-DRG Casemix database of a teaching hospital in Malaysia. Cases with principal and secondary diagnoses coded in the International Classification of Diseases version 10 (ICD-10) as J09, J10.0, J10.1, J10.8, J11.0, J11.1, J11.8, J12.8, and J12.9, which represent influenza and its complications, were included in the study. The direct cost of influenza at all severity levels was calculated from the casemix data and guided by a clinical pathway developed by experts. The effect of the variations in costs and incidence rate of influenza for both the casemix and clinical pathway costing approaches was assessed with sensitivity analysis.
RESULTS: A total of 1,599 inpatient and 407 outpatient influenza cases were identified from the MY-DRG Casemix database. Most hospitalised cases were aged <18 years (90.6%), while 77 cases (4.8%) involved older people. Mild, moderate, and severe cases comprised 56.5%, 35.1%, and 8.4% of cases, respectively. The estimated average annual direct costs for managing mild, moderate, and severe influenza were RM2,435 (USD579), RM6,504 (USD1,549), and RM13,282 (USD3,163), respectively. The estimated total annual economic burden of influenza on older adults in Malaysia was RM3.28 billion (USD782 million), which was equivalent to 10.7% of the Ministry of Health Malaysia budget for 2020. The sensitivity analysis indicated that the influenza incidence rate and cost of managing severe influenza were the most important factors influencing the total economic burden.
CONCLUSIONS: Overall, our results demonstrated that influenza imposes a substantial economic burden on the older Malaysian population. The high cost of influenza suggested that further efforts are required to implement a preventive programme, such as immunisation for older people, to reduce the disease and economic burdens.
METHODS: A methodological study of the translation and validation of the implementation outcome measures was conducted from March 2022 until December 2022. Three key analyses were conducted: (1) translation and validation; (2) factor investigation and extraction (n = 170); and (3) scale evaluation (n = 235).
RESULT: The Malay version measuring the implementation outcome measures of a community-based intervention programme was produced after extensive translation and modification, and it consisted of a single dimension with seven items. The content validity index was 0.9, the exploratory factor analysis showed that the KMO measure of sample adequacy was 0.9277, and Bartlett's sphericity test was statistically significant. Cronbach's alpha was good, with a level of 0.938. The single factor structure fitted the data satisfactorily [χ2 (p-value of 0.002), SRMR = 0.030, CFI = 0.999, RMSEA = 0.079, TLI = 0.998]. Factor loading for all items was > 0.7.
CONCLUSION: The 7-item Malay version of the AIM-IAM-FIM survey instrument is valid and reliable for assessing the acceptability of a community-based intervention study and is applicable to other fields. Future studies in psychometric evaluation are recommended in other states due to the variety of Malay dialects spoken across Asia. The scale may also benefit other areas where the language is spoken.