The American College of Physicians (ACP) has issued a position paper on climate change in health, detailing the potential devastating effects on human and environmental health, including higher rates of respiratory and heat-related illness, increased prevalence of vector-borne and waterborne diseases, food and water insecurity, and malnutrition. Persons who are elderly, sick, or poor are especially vulnerable to these potential consequences, according to the group. The ACP also states its belief that physicians can play a role in dramatically improving human health and averting dire environmental outcomes and recommends:

• Physicians and the broader health care community throughout the world engage in environmentally sustainable practices that reduce carbon emissions.

• Support efforts to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change.

• Educate the public, their colleagues, their community, and lawmakers about the health risks posed by climate change.

Citation: Crowley RA, et al. Climate change and health: A position paper of the American College of Physicians. [Published online ahead of print April 19, 2016]. Ann Intern Med. doi:10.7326/M15-2766.

Commentary: This ACP paper emphasizes that climate change presents a “catastrophic risk” to human health over the next hundred years that may wipe out all of the health advances made over the previous 100 years. The average temperature on Earth has increased by almost 1 degree since 1889, and greenhouse gas emissions have increased by almost 50% from 2005 to 2011. It is predicted that by the end of the century, the Earth’s temperature may increase by 5 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit. Ice in the Arctic and Antarctic seas has melted at unprecedented rates and the water levels worldwide have risen by almost 7 inches over the last 100 years. The WHO has predicted that climate change will cause an additional 250,000 deaths per year from 2030 to 2050 due to malnutrition, increased malaria, increased respiratory illness, heat-related illness, food issues due to crop losses, and increases in waterborne infectious diseases and vector-borne illness. —Neil Skolnik, MD