Washington: The consequences of global warming are expected to be far-reaching and long-lasting. Researches now say that undernutrition can also be a result of increasing temperature. Global warming may increase undernutrition through the effects of heat exposure on people, according to a new study published in — PLOS Medicine — by Yuming Guo of Monash University, Australia, and colleagues.
It has been well documented that global warming will indirectly result in more undernourished people through threatening crop production in the long term. In the new study, researchers analysed daily hospitalisation data that covers nearly 80% of the population of Brazil, spanning the years 2000 through 2015.
They studied the link between daily mean temperatures and hospitalisation for undernutrition. For every One-degree centigrade increase in daily mean temperature during the hot season, there was a 2.5 per cent increase in undernutrition hospitalisation (OR=1.025, 95% CI 1.020-1.030, p<\<>0.001).
People under age 19 years or over age 80 years with undernutrition were the most vulnerable to heat exposure. Overall, heat exposure was estimated to be responsible for 15.6% (95% CI 9.0-21.4) of undernutrition hospitalisation during the study period.
—ANI
