Effects of climate changes on skin diseases

Abstract

Global climate is changing at an extraordinary rate. Climate change (CC) can be caused by several factors including variations in solar radiation, oceanic processes, and also human activities. The degree of this change and its impact on ecological, social, and economical systems have become important matters of debate worldwide, representing CC as one of the greatest challenges of the modern age. Moreover, studies based on observations and predictive models show how CC could affect human health. On the other hand, only a few studies focus on how this change may affect human skin. However, the skin is the most exposed organ to environment; therefore, it is not surprising that cutaneous diseases are inclined to have a high sensitivity to climate. The current review focuses on the effects of CC on skin diseases showing the numerous factors that are contributing to modify the incidence, clinical pattern and natural course of some dermatoses.

Keywords::

• allergy
• climate change
• extreme whether events
• skin cancers
• skin diseases
• skin infections
• vector-borne diseases
• water-borne diseases

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Key issues

• Climate change (CC) includes major variations in average and peaks temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, precipitations, wind patterns, ocean pH and salinity, and polar glaciers which all also influence the frequency of extreme weather events.

• The skin is the most exposed organ to environment so the cutaneous diseases are inclined to have a high sensitivity to climate.

• CC could have significant impact on the distribution and seasonality of some vector-borne diseases (i.e., malaria, dengue fever, leishmaniasis, tick-borne diseases).

• Frequent cutaneous implications associated with natural disaster are reported to be scabies, papular urticaria, eczema and leishmaniasis. In particular, flood-related disasters are commonly associated with skin infections, mostly caused by bacteria of which many are reported to be relatively antibiotic-resistant.

• Climate variability may affect the risk of contamination events having a great impact on water-borne diseases which can also affect human skin as is the case of those caused by Dracunculus medinensis, Cyanobacter spp., Francisella tularensis and Mycobacter spp.

• The incidences of some cutaneous diseases change over time, and well-known seasonal variation occurs in several skin diseases such as seborrheic dermatitis, scabies, miliaria, acne, psoriasis, pyoderma and fungal dermatoses.

• There is some literature describing how certain skin diseases may be affected by climatic change, but more research and data collection are needed for the future.

• Dermatologists will play a crucial role since modifications of skin diseases are expected to be one of the most common effects of CC on human health.