Estimating the Health-Related Costs of 10 Climate-Sensitive U.S. Events During 2012
Estimating the Health-Related Costs of 10 Climate-Sensitive U.S. Events During 2012
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DOI：
10.1029/2019gh000202
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发表时间：
2019-09-17
期刊：
影响因子：
4.8
通讯作者：
Knowlton, Kim
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Limaye, Vijay S.;Max, Wendy;Knowlton, Kim
气候变化威胁着人类健康，但关于对气候敏感的公共卫生影响造成的经济损失，仍然缺乏证据。我们描述了2012年跨越美国11个州的10个气候敏感案例研究事件相关的人类死亡率和发病率：科罗拉多州和华盛顿州的野火，内华达州的臭氧空气污染，威斯康星州的极端高温，密歇根州的蜱传莱姆病和德克萨斯州的蚊子传播的西尼罗河病毒的传染病爆发，俄亥俄州的极端天气，新泽西州和纽约州的飓风桑迪的影响，北卡罗来纳州的过敏橡树花粉，以及佛罗里达州海岸的有害藻华。将一致的经济评估方法应用于已发表的研究和州估计，我们估计917例死亡，20,568例住院和17,857例急诊就诊的健康相关总成本为100亿美元（2018年美元），敏感性范围为27 - 246亿美元。我们的估计表明，死亡、住院、急诊科就诊和相关医疗的经济负担是气候敏感事件总体经济影响的一个关键方面。我们发现，死亡成本（即统计生命的价值）为84亿美元，超过了发病率成本和工资损失（合16亿美元）。通过从经济角度更好地描述健康损害，这项工作有助于揭示气候敏感事件每年对美国公共卫生造成的负担。在此过程中，我们为更广泛地估计气候敏感的健康相关成本提供了一个概念框架。与气候敏感事件相关的高昂健康相关费用凸显了采取行动减缓气候变化和适应其不可避免的影响的重要性。
Climate change threatens human health, but there remains a lack of evidence on the economic toll of climate-sensitive public health impacts. We characterize human mortality and morbidity costs associated with 10 climate-sensitive case study events spanning 11 US states in 2012: wildfires in Colorado and Washington, ozone air pollution in Nevada, extreme heat in Wisconsin, infectious disease outbreaks of tick-borne Lyme disease in Michigan and mosquito-borne West Nile virus in Texas, extreme weather in Ohio, impacts of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey and New York, allergenic oak pollen in North Carolina, and harmful algal blooms on the Florida coast. Applying a consistent economic valuation approach to published studies and state estimates, we estimate total health-related costs from 917 deaths, 20,568 hospitalizations, and 17,857 emergency department visits of $10.0 billion in 2018 dollars, with a sensitivity range of $2.7-24.6 billion. Our estimates indicate that the financial burden of deaths, hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and associated medical care is a key dimension of the overall economic impact of climate-sensitive events. We found that mortality costs (i.e., the value of a statistical life) of $8.4 billion exceeded morbidity costs and lost wages ($1.6 billion combined). By better characterizing health damages in economic terms, this work helps to shed light on the burden climate-sensitive events already place on U.S. public health each year. In doing so, we provide a conceptual framework for broader estimation of climate-sensitive health-related costs. The high health-related costs associated with climate-sensitive events highlight the importance of actions to mitigate climate change and adapt to its unavoidable impacts.