The Relationship between Climate Change and Rheumatic Disease: A Review

Climate change has increased wildfires, air pollution, elevations in heat, and extreme weather events. While some negative effects on health are obvious, for example, on pulmonary health, climate change's impact on rheumatic disease and autoimmune health may be less visible.

Multiple studies suggest that increased environmental heat is associated with gout flares and with hospitalizations for gout, likely worsens cardiovascular disease and increases biomarkers associated with inflammatory conditions. Increasing air pollution, including through smoke generated by wildfires or wildland urban interface fires, includes a mix of particulate matter and gases which can engender inflammation through oxidative stress. Studies discussed in the current paper suggest that smoke exposure may be associated with incident rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus and with elevations in biomarkers associated with these and other diseases.

Understanding some of the potential health effects of exposure to wildfires and elevating heat, specifically increases in incidence of rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, disease activity, hospitalization risk, and disease biomarkers is important for clinicians, and represents an opportunity to educate their patients in the clinical setting and monitor them for health effects of climate change manifestations.