Future Proofing Our Hearts to Climate Change

Abstract

In the last chapter, the embryonic evidence (essentially derived from one, relatively positive, COVID-19 cruelled randomised trial) in respect to the possibility of restoring/promoting resilience in people hospitalised with multimorbid heart disease was presented. However, prevention is always better than cure! Thus, just as the ‘interconnectedness’ of the different spheres that comprise our planet was highlighted in terms of the impact of pollution earlier in this book and considering the tenant of the UNSDGs, it is critical for us to proactively address climate vulnerability from multiple perspectives. Specifically, at multiple levels, there is urgent need for the world/us to—(1) Recognise the pre-existing to evolving threat (due to climate change) of climatic provocations to heart health, (2) Develop a more systematic approach to recognising which regions and communities are most ‘vulnerable’ to climatic challenges (from multiple perspectives), (3) Implement a range of public health measures from raising public awareness to implementing broad public health strategies to promote and enhance climatic resilience at the population level, and, beyond the need to reframe the clinical management of people hospitalised for heart disease, to reduce their risk of readmissions and premature mortality due to pre-existing vulnerability to climate provocations—(4) Strengthen primary care health care teams/services to proactively detect and then manage at risk/vulnerable individuals before they are hospitalised and/or die prematurely due to climatic provocations to their cardiovascular health. Such primary care capacity would also ensure the optimal, post-discharge management of those hospitalised with heart disease from this novel perspective. Bringing all the current evidence in this regard together, this chapter provides a critical review of the progress made thus far around these four key points.