Climate Change: Preparing for the Health Impacts

Using Canada's Health Data

Using Canada's Health Data is a regular column of the Health Policy Research Bulletin highlighting some of the methods used in analyzing health data. This issue focuses on newspapers as a source of useful data on climate change and health.

Colin L. Soskolne, Ph.D., and Justine D.A. Klaver-Kibria, University of Alberta; and Kaila-Lea Clarke and Peter Berry, Climate Change and Health Office, Safe Environments Programme, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada

Climate Change and Health

As previous articles have demonstrated, the progressive warming of global temperatures is having both direct and indirect effects on the health and well-being of people and their communities. Because the negative health impacts of climate change are often mediated by factors outside the traditional health field, adaptation strategies must take these other factors into account.

For this reason, health assessments of climate change require the use of a broad range of health data, and analytical methods and tools, as well as interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers from many fields of expertise. Among the methods available are literature reviews, ecological studies, time-series methods and scenario-based approaches. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches may be useful, depending on the level and type of knowledge required by policy makers.¹ Whatever methods are chosen, however, they should support the goal of identifying the health impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations by evaluating:

• possible threshold effects
• the effects of multiple stressors
• the implications of policy actions (including their uncertainties)
• the coping capacity of individuals and their communities

The Challenges of Extreme Weather

One category of health concerns relates to extreme weather events. As temperatures warm, extreme events are expected to occur with increasing frequency, severity² and unpredictability.³ The health effects of extreme weather can include death, injury and illness, as well as indirect health impacts resulting from damage to local health services and civic infrastructure, disruption of community life, displacement of people and ecological changes. Extreme weather can also cause considerable mental harm when people lose their loved ones, personal property and/or their livelihoods.⁴ All of these factors underscore the urgent need for adaptation strategies and efficient ways of scientifically informing policy.

Using Newspapers: A Novel Epidemiological Method

How have extreme weather-related disasters affected human health and where can researchers access the information they need to evaluate future risks?

Newspapers are an innovative and underutilized source of epidemiological information useful for both qualitative and quantitative analyses. They provide accessible long-term records of weather events, as well as valuable information about pre- and post-event circumstances (i.e., the context). This type of descriptive information is important in assessing health impacts and is not systematically recorded in the administrative databases used in quantitative health research (e.g., hospital records, mortality data).

A Case Study in Alberta

One study, entitled Climate Change, Extreme Weather and Health Effects in Alberta, took a unique approach to obtaining and analyzing climate-related health data.³ Conducted at the University of Alberta, the study was made possible through funding provided by the Health Policy Research Program at Health Canada.

Drawing on four decades of reporting (1960 to 2001), the study used information from newspapers to assess the human health impacts that disasters and extreme weather events have had on Albertans. The purpose of the research was to better understand how extreme weather had affected population health, and how communities could best adapt to these changing conditions as climate change continues to exert an influence on extreme weather events. Among the events investigated were droughts, periods of extreme cold and heat, snowstorms, forest fires, flash floods and river flooding.

In order to collect and analyze the data, researchers extracted the necessary data from meteorological records (1900 to 2001), a disaster database and newspaper reports. The key steps in this multifaceted approach are summarized in the text box.

Some Relevant Findings

A number of important findings, largely unavailable using information from traditional sources, demonstrate the effectiveness of using newspapers as a data source:

• Significant health problems, including morbidity, mental disorders and injury, were associated with extreme weather.
• Mental health impacts corresponded closely with disasters that damaged property and resulted in economic loss.
• Snow, cold and fires were the most costly events in terms of property and economic losses, and resulted in the most service interruptions and greatest institutional overload.
• Early warning systems, when they were available, allowed those affected to take action and reduce damage, loss and negative health consequences.
• Newspapers often gave advance warnings for floods and fires, fewer warnings for cold weather conditions and no warnings at all for snow.

Among its many recommendations, the study called for initiatives designed to:

• implement health-related advance warning systems for extreme weather events
• stop residential and commercial construction in flood plains
• identify and rank severely drought-prone areas

More information about this study is available at: <http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/sr-sr/finance/hpr-rpms/final/2004-scleros-eng.php>.

In Summary

The varied information reported in newspapers provides a basis for understanding the extent of the direct and indirect impacts of climate change on health. Newspaper-based enquiries can help to inform decisions about measures to ensure that communities have adequate resources available, and appropriate plans and policies in place to deal with extreme weather events.

Six-Step Approach for Collecting and Analyzing Health Data in Newspapers

Step 1

Researchers defined the extreme weather events to be investigated and identified their associated dates and locations. This was accomplished using daily meteorological records and the online Canadian Disaster Database.

Step 2

Based on information from Step 1, researchers selected numerous Alberta newspapers and searched their archives for reports relating to selected extreme weather events. Relevant reports were photocopied and scanned into a database for coding and analysis.

Step 3

A content analysis framework (CAF) was developed to organize and code the health-related data, using Microsoft Access® to capture qualitative and quantitative information.

Step 4

Researchers reviewed each newspaper report and used the CAF to organize, code and store the data.

Step 5

The accuracy of the newspaper data was checked using both qualitative and quantitative methods (i.e., cross-referencing with known, reliable sources). This process did not reveal any evidence questioning the accuracy of the newspaper reports.

Step 6

Researchers analyzed the health data, generating many useful insights into the various dimensions of extreme weather and health.

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Issue 11 References

Some of the following hyperlinks are to sites of organizations or other entities that are not subject to the Official Languages Act. The material found there is therefore in the language(s) used by the sites in question.

References for Using Canada's Health Data

1. World Health Organization, World Meteorological Organization & United Nations Environment Program. (2003). Climate Change and Human Health: Risks and Responses. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO. Retrieved January 13, 2005, from < http://www.who.int/globalchange/climate/summary/en/>.

2. Etkin, D. (1998). Climate Change and Extreme Events: Canada. In N. Mayer & W. Avis (Eds.), The Canada Country Study: Climate Impacts and Adaptation. National Cross-Cutting Issues Volume (Chapter 2, pp. 31-80). Environment Canada. Retrieved June 15, 2005, from
< http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection
/En56-119-7-1998E.pdf#search='Canada%20Country%20
Study%3A%20Impacts%20and%20Adaptation (PDF version)'>.

3. Soskolne, C.L., Smoyer-Tomic, K.E., Spady, D.W., McDonald, K., Rothe, J.P., & Klaver, J.D.A. (2004, April 30). Final Report: Climate Change, Extreme Weather Events and Health Effects in Alberta. HPRP File No. 6795-15-2001/4400013. Ottawa, ON: Health Canada.

4. Health Canada, Climate Change and Health Office. Canada's Health Concerns from Climate Change and Variability. Retrieved August 1, 2005, from
<http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/climat/
health_table-tableau_sante-eng.php>.