Climate Change and Cancer Care—Feeling the Heat
The authors rightly note in their opening of this JAMA-Oncology article that climate change is often viewed as an environmental issue, but in truth it is very much a health problem, and specifically has direct implications for cancer risk and survival. Air pollution is reported as a significant cancer risk and substantiated with epidemiological evidence. The authors also highlight disruptions to cancer care and services that might result from climate change, an issue that I find particularly interesting and salient. I wrote about it with colleagues after extreme weather events (flooding and a heat dome) in British Columbia . There is a call to those working in cancer, and the health sector more broadly to minimize their impact to climate change, given its significant contributions. This is a good short read that also provides some references for anyone interested in climate change and cancer services, specifically.
One of the most talked about or publicized issues at the intersection of climate change and patient treatment is inhalers (maybe only second to anesthesia?). In this article, published in the Canadian Journal of Respiratory, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, the Canadian Thoracic Society (CTS) reports its position on inhaler prescribing. The statement is far from prescriptive (see what I did there?) about what clinicians should do, which to be fair, would be extremely difficult for a number of reasons. Rather, this article is more of an acknowledgement of the issue and emphasizes the role of education and shared decision-making between clinicians and patients. It’s a good sign to see this sort of statement from professional clinical societies and should help practice and research to move forward.