Protecting human health in a time of climate change: how Cochrane should respond

Abstract

Trusted evidence. Informed decisions. Better health.

Development and validation of PubMed and Ovid MEDLINE search filters for exposure pathways linking climate change with human health

“…Thus, we recommend that author teams embarking on climate-health evidence syntheses consider the following: 1. use validated search filters to help capture relevant primary studies with high sensitivity and collaborate with medical librarians or other health information professionals when developing literature search strategies; 2. ensure they include people with expertise in climate change and, where needed, fields such as disaster research, equity, implementation science, etc. ; 3. ensure they understand the differences between extreme weather events, climate variability and anthropogenic climate change; 4. prepare to incorporate sources of evidence not traditionally used in health-related evidence syntheses, such as non-randomised, economic and qualitative data, and even modelling studies in situations where direct evidence is not available [11]. Further research regarding information retrieval methods could include: 1. develop and validate climate-health search filters in different languages; 2. explore the possibility of constructing search filters for the pathways 'food supply and safety' and 'social factors' by examining the indexing of relevant publications in additional databases, such as the Web of Science Core Collection or the CABI Global Health database; 3. externally validate, review and update the search filters as the language on climate-health evolves and the evidence base expands.…”

How We Might Further Integrate Considerations of Environmental Impact When Assessing the Value of Health Technologies

“…Health journals from around the world recently released a joint statement calling for immediate action on climate change from governments, health professionals, and health systems [26]. In response, several HTA agencies have expressed their intention to launch new initiatives to reduce the contribution of health care to climate change [7,[27][28][29]. They are asking for input from the public [7], exploring ways to incorporate environmental impact data into guidance development [27], identifying relevant research questions for researchers and methodologist to focus on [29], soliciting research evaluations of interventions or services to support more sustainable health care systems [30], and adapting HTA methodologies to allow the environmental impacts of a health technology to be assessed [19].…”

“…In response, several HTA agencies have expressed their intention to launch new initiatives to reduce the contribution of health care to climate change [7,[27][28][29]. They are asking for input from the public [7], exploring ways to incorporate environmental impact data into guidance development [27], identifying relevant research questions for researchers and methodologist to focus on [29], soliciting research evaluations of interventions or services to support more sustainable health care systems [30], and adapting HTA methodologies to allow the environmental impacts of a health technology to be assessed [19]. However, most HTA agencies do not yet consider, or they give limited consideration to, environmental impacts as part of their deliberative processes [10].…”

“…Cochrane, in an editorial about synthesizing evidence on climate change for use in health system decision-making, calls for the prioritization of HTA work on climate change [29]. The authors suggest expanding the definition of evidence to include, among other sources, the judgement of experts.…”

“…HTA agencies should also work closely with relevant stakeholders to develop methods for synthesizing that information [29]. As a next step, health system decision-makers should be asked to provide input into what environmental considerations they think should be included in HTA.…”