Health Impacts of Climate Change in the Nordic Region: A Scoping Review
Mapping review
|Published
The mapping identified 385 primary studies from at least one Nordic country and 264 review articles. The results show that research on the direct health impacts of climate change in the Nordic region is limited.
Key message
We conducted a knowledge mapping using systematic methods to create research maps of literature on the health impacts of climate change in the Nordic region.
The mapping identified 385 primary studies from at least one Nordic country and 264 review articles. The results show that research on the direct health impacts of climate change in the Nordic region is limited. Most primary studies addressing direct health impacts focused on temperature-related mortality and infectious diseases, including tick-borne illnesses. Regarding indirect health impacts, studies related to food security and water safety were predominant.
The research maps provide an overview of areas with substantial, limited, or no scientific documentation. However, they do not indicate the quality of the studies or the magnitude and severity of the health impacts of climate change. The knowledge mapping offers a snapshot of existing knowledge and can serve as an important basis for risk assessments and vulnerability analyses. The work also reveals knowledge gaps and concludes that high-quality reviews are needed for several of the most critical challenges