The Impact of Climate Change on Heart Failure: A Narrative Review Study

Abstract

Context: Climate change as a global threat has affected all aspects of society, including health. This study aimed to identify the role of climate change factors on cardiovascular diseases. Evidence Acquisition: The current narrative review study searched the databases including EMBASE, PubMed, Science Direct, Ovid, Cochrane Library, Magiran, and SID using Persian and English keywords such as ‘climate change’, ‘cold wave’, ‘heat wave’, ‘temperature decrease’, ‘temperature rise’, ‘heart disease’, ‘heart attack’, and ‘heart failure’ from the beginning of 2000 to the end of 2019. Results: Previous studies have shown that physical factors affect health and contribute to conditions such as cardiovascular disease and even death. Additionally, a relationship can be found between temperature decrease and heart diseases in the literature, while recent studies have shown that temperature rise is directly related to heart diseases. Conclusions: Due to increased greenhouse gas emissions and the increase in temperature, the world is witnessing a massive climate change. Considering the increase in the incidence and mortality rates due to heart diseases and the role of climate change in this increase, health policymakers need to focus on setting guidelines for reducing the complications of these diseases in high-risk groups based on the relevant studies.