Assessing impact of climate on skin health
Climate change may lead to changes in the risk and incidence of many skin conditions, especially for people living in remote communities (1,200 words, 5 minutes)
The effects of climate change—including depletion of the ozone layer, global warming, heatwaves, increased air pollution, and flooding—significantly increase the risks for a range of skin diseases and other conditions, including ones more frequently encountered by populations living in colder and hotter regions, Dr. Anna Chacon told the 9th annual Skin Spectrum Summit.
Dr. Chacon is a board-certified dermatologist in Miami. She also practices in person and virtually in Alaska through tribal clinics and hospitals, and virtually in all other U.S. states.
She listed several environmental factors of concern to individuals living in remote communities, that might be impacted by climate change:
Continued exposure to cold can lead to constriction of arteries and veins, causing reduced perfusion, hypoxia, thrombus formation, and tissue damage
Other cold-exposure-related skin damage including frostbite, pernio, winter cirrhosis, acrocyanosis, and cold urticaria
Ultraviolet light exposure during outdoor work
Photodermatologic conditions such as polymorphous light eruption or actinic prurigo
Air pollution worsens allergic and inflammatory diseases, damages the epithelium due to oxidative stress and compromises the skin barrier
Increased temperature and humidity due to global warming may disrupt the skin microbiome, as well as broaden the geographic range of parasite-mediated diseases
Bottom Line: Climate change may increase the risk of many environment-driven skin conditions, particularly ones of concern to populations living in remote areas.
From the literature on climate and dermatology
Bacterial infections of the skin in the context of climate change and migration
The authors of this paper review the current literature on emerging antimicrobial resistance and emerging pathogens in general and on the epidemiological situation in Germany in particular.
They note that climate change has a direct impact on microbiological ecosystems in Germany's warming coastal waters, and this impact has led to an increase in marine V. vulnificus counts and human infections. Transmission vectors of, for example, Lyme disease, rickettsioses, and tularemia are also increasing secondary to global warming, they note.
In addition, the authors write infectious diseases such as cutaneous diphtheria and mycobacteriosis have been diagnosed in migrants, likely acquired before migration or on the migration route and first diagnosed in Germany. This increases concern about development of antimicrobial resistance.
The facial microbiome and metabolome across different geographic regions
The authors of this paper aimed to characterize the skin microbiome and metabolome of individuals from different geographic regions to better understand the factors behind the prevalence of skin disorders and support skincare product development.
Researchers recruited volunteers from northern, southern, and northwestern China. They collected facial skin samples for amplicon sequencing and metabolomic liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses.
The investigators demonstrated significant alterations in the abundance of multiple microorganisms and skin lipid compositions between individuals. People living in the northwest, which has a dry climate and high altitude, showed lower levels of total lipids, and lower abundance of Malassezia, but higher levels of ceramides and fatty acids. Malassezia had a positive correlation with eicosanoids and a negative correlation with ceramides.
Climate change, exposome change, and allergy: A review
In this review, the authors discuss the threat of climate change to human respiratory health and associated allergic disorders arising from the impact of climate change on the exposome.
They note that climate change can affect exposure to allergens, such as pollen, dust mites, and moulds, as well as other factors such as temperature, air pollution, and nutritional factors, which synergistically impact the immune response to these allergens.
Exposome change can differentially exacerbate allergic reactions across subgroups of populations, especially those who are more vulnerable to environmental stressors, the authors write. Understanding the links between climate change and health impacts can help inform how to protect individuals and vulnerable populations from adverse health effects.
Increased ambient outdoor temperatures are associated with increased disease flaring in hidradenitis suppurativa
With this retrospective cohort study, researchers aimed to validate a classification approach based on administrative data for identifying medical encounters that likely represent hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) flares in patients with a known diagnosis of HS within the Mass General Brigham Health System (MGB). They also examined the relationship between average daily temperatures and HS disease flaring among patients in Boston.
Examining data between Jan. 2017 and Jan. 2022, researchers compared the average number of encounters for HS flares with the temperature for that day and the three- and seven-day periods prior.
They included 2,567 patient encounters for HS flares in the study. Of the total identified HS flares, 75.6% occurred in females and 39.1% occurred in patients who identified as Black. Researchers noted uniformly small but statistically significant relationships between increased temperature and presentations for hidradenitis suppurativa flare with the highest correlation coefficient (0.0768) noted with a three-day lag time between the heat experienced and the day of presentation for flare.
The authors conclude that as increased temperature is associated with a small, but statistically significant, increase in the frequency of HS disease flares, rising global temperatures may also lead to an increase in flaring.
VIDEO: The Intersection of Climate Change and Human Health
In this video from the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, dermatologist Dr. Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann discusses how climate change affects allergic diseases and infectious skin diseases. Dr. Traidl-Hoffmann is Professor of Environmental Medicine at the University of Augsburg and Director of the Institute of Environmental Medicine at Helmholtz Munich.
At the intersection of skin and society
South Asian Canadian artist Sarindar Dhaliwal’s first solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario, When I grow up I want to be a namer of paint colours features more than 40 years of artmaking by Dhaliwal.
A press release from the gallery describes the work as characterized by intense colour and compelling imagery, investigating memory, identity, and migration.
In this exhibition, the artist’s significant contribution to Canadian art is illustrated by a selection of key works, including meticulously rendered drawings and mixed media works from the 1980s to the 2000s, alongside large-scale installations and recent photography.
Dhaliwal was born in Punjab, India and moved with her family to England at the age of four where she grew up in Southall, London. At age 15, she migrated again with her family to Canada. Her artwork has been exhibited across Canada at institutions including the Art Gallery of Alberta; the Koffler Centre of the Arts, Toronto; the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston; and A Space Gallery, Toronto. An exhibition of her work, Record Keeping, toured England in 2004.
The exhibition will be open until July 14, 2024.
This week
Jan. 15 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the U.S.
January is International Quality of Life Month
January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month in the U.S.
Something to think about in the week ahead. . .
—Sidney Sheldon, U.S. novelist (1917 to 2007)
Next week
During an interview with the U.S. National Eczema Association, dermatologists Dr. Nada Elbuluk (Los Angeles) and Dr. Zelma Chiesa Fuxench (Philadelphia) discuss hypopigmentation, the conditions that can cause it, and its management.
If you like Skin Spectrum Weekly, why not check out Chronicle’s other publications, podcasts, and portal?
Established in 1995, The Chronicle of Skin & Allergy is a scientific newspaper providing news and information on practical therapeutics and clinical progress in dermatologic medicine. The latest issue features:
Drs. Lauren Lam (Calgary), Sam Hanna (Toronto), Benjamin Barankin (Toronto), and Renée A. Beach, (Toronto) discuss many of the new therapeutic options that arrived in 2023.
Dr. Andrew F. Alexis (New York) details pigmentary disorders in patients with skin of colour.
An essay from Dr. Sheila Wang (Montreal) submitted to the 2022 Dermatology Industry Taskforce on Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (DiTiDE) short essay contest. Dr. Wang wrote about the development of new imaging technology to detect and assess ‘beneath-the-skin’ inflammation, perfusion, and tissue oxygenation in any skin phototype.
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Season three of the Vender on Psoriasis podcast with Dr. Ron Vender has begun. Listen to the new season here. In episode five, Dr. Vender discusses whether or not vitamin D has any impact on psoriasis severity, sex differences in psoriatic inflammation itch, and the risk of psychiatric disorders associated with acitretin.
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