Extreme high temperatures double young people’s risk of mental health admissions, Australian research shows

An analysis of 720,000 NSW hospital admissions of young people finds a doubling of the risk of mental health hospital admissions. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian View image in fullscreen An analysis of 720,000 NSW hospital admissions of young people finds a doubling of the risk of mental health hospital admissions. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian Extreme high temperatures double young people’s risk of mental health admissions, Australian research shows Exclusive University of Sydney study finds heat-related hospital admissions to increase by 6% to 7.7% by the end of the century Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Extreme high temperatures in warmer months double the risk of young people being admitted to hospital for a mental health condition, according to research. The analysis, which looked at 720,000 New South Wales hospital admissions of young people aged up to 24, suggested the climate crisis would aggravate the already declining mental health of young people. As extreme temperatures occur more often because of global heating, heat-related hospital admissions would increase between 6% and 7.7% by the end of the century, the research said. The lead author of the research at the University of Sydney , Dr Wen‑Qiang He, said: “We found that as temperatures increase, we see admissions for these younger populations increase significantly. The risk doubles in the warm season and triples in the cold season. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email “That’s important for us to know and if we can let the community know what’s happening, then we can prepare and help our children and young people.” The research, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , examined the 720,000 times between 2001 and 2022 that young people aged up to 24 had to be admitted to hospital for a range of mental health conditions. The serious hospital admissions – meaning they were admitted to the hospital rather than just visited an emergency department – included categories of mental health disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, substance misuse, eating disorders and self-harm. Researchers found when daily average temperatures were in the highest 1% for that day, the risk of a hospital admission was doubled in warmer months from October to March and tripled during the cooler months. Previous research has found that young people in NSW present to hospital with suicidal thoughts and behaviours more often on days that are hotter than average. ‘Non-survivable’: heatwaves are already breaching human limits, with worse to come, study finds Read more The National Climate Risk Assessment, released last year, warned that extreme heat had been linked to “higher rates of suicide and mental health-related hospital admissions” with research pointing to “heightened stress, anxiety, and aggravation of psychiatric conditions”. The new research did not try to discover why the higher temperatures were correla