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Standl, M. ; Hardelid, P.*

Counting children out: we are underestimating the health impacts of climate change without birth cohort studies.

Environ. Res. Health 4:023001 (2026)
Publ. Version/Full Text Postprint DOI
Open Access Gold
Creative Commons Lizenzvertrag
The majority of physical and mental health conditions have their origin during childhood. It is also well-established that children face unique vulnerability to environmental stressors. Climate change will make extreme heat, wildfires and flooding more frequent throughout Europe, and worsen biodiversity loss, with implications for children’s health, wellbeing, and education. However, most studies of the health impact of climate change, and associated adaptation and mitigation policies, rely on all-age mortality as an outcome, masking child-specific and life-course impacts of one of the major global public health threats of our time. We argue for a combined-birth cohort approach to climate and child health research: leveraging recruited birth cohorts for mechanistic insights and administrative data-based birth cohorts for national-level analyses, including among smaller, vulnerable groups. Innovative uses of these complementary, longitudinal data resources enable robust, policy-relevant evidence relevant to pregnant women, children and across the life course. This will make climate change’s full impact on pregnant women, children and adolescents visible, simultaneously addressing an urgent scientific need as well as intergenerational equity concerns.
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Publication type Article: Journal article
Document type Comment, Opinion
Keywords Climate Change ; Vulnerability (computing) ; Public Health ; Mental Health ; Cohort ; Cohort Study ; Effects Of Global Warming ; Child Health; Disorders
ISSN (print) / ISBN 2752-5309
e-ISSN 2752-5309
Journal Environmental Research: Health
Quellenangaben Volume: 4, Issue: 2, Pages: , Article Number: 023001 Supplement: ,
Publisher IOP Publishing
Publishing Place No.2 The Distillery, Glassfields, Avon Street, Bristol, England
Reviewing status Peer reviewed
Institute(s) Institute of Epidemiology (EPI)
Grants NIHR Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre
UKRI-Environmental and Social Research Council
European Research Council (ERC)/European Union Horizon 2020
Health Data Research UK