Climate Change and Psychiatry: The Correlation between the Mean Monthly Temperature and Admissions to an Acute Inpatient Unit

Psychiatric disorders are large contributors to the global disease burden, but research on the impact of climate change on them is limited. Our aim is to investigate the correlation between temperature and exacerbations of psychiatric disorders to help inform clinical management and future public health policies.

Temperature records for the summer months from 2013 to 2022 were obtained from the meteorological station of the Department of Physics of Turin University. Data on patients admitted to the acute psychiatric unit were extracted from registries of San Luigi Gonzaga University Hospital (Turin, Italy). Regression analyses were used to investigate the correlation between temperature and number of admissions and to test for confounding variables.

A total of 1600 admissions were recorded. The monthly temperature and number of admissions were directly correlated (p = 0.0020). The correlation was significant for the subgroup of admissions due to Bipolar Disorders (p = 0.0011), but not for schizophrenia or major depressive disorder. After multiple regression analyses, the effect of temperature remained significant (p = 0.0406).

These results confirm the impact of meteorological factors on mental disorders, particularly on BD. This can contribute to personalised follow-up and efficient resource allocation and poses grounds for studies into etiopathological mechanisms and therapeutic implications.