A recent study published in Communications Medicine explored the links between hot weather and hospital visits for drug- and alcohol-related disorders in New York State. We spoke with lead author Robbie M. Parks to learn more about the study’s findings and implications. 

Can you tell us a bit about what this study looked at?

We investigated the relationship between temperature and hospital visits related to alcohol and other psychoactive substances including cannabis, cocaine, opioids, and sedatives in New York State, and how this association varied by location, age group, sex, and social vulnerability.

What conclusions were your team able to draw?

We found that higher temperatures resulted in more hospital visits for alcohol. For other drugs, higher temperatures also resulted in more hospital visits, but only up to a certain temperature level. Our findings suggest that rising temperatures, including those caused by climate change, may influence hospital visits for alcohol and other drugs, highlighting the need for appropriate and proportionate social and health interventions, and potential hidden burdens of climate change.

Were there any findings that surprised you?

We found that the association with short-term temperature rises and substance-related disorder hospital visits was greater outside New York City, which warrants further exploration into the drivers of potential vulnerability in New York State when compared with New York City.

What concrete actions do you hope these findings spur?

I hope that our study spurs policies urging special care for those using alcohol and overdoses during periods of elevated heat, potentially leading to ethical targeted approaches.

You mention in the paper that limited previous studies of alcohol- and substance-related disorders in relation to temperature exist. Why do you think this is? 

The connections between temperature and alcohol-/substance-related disorders are a combination of physiological and behavioral links, which are complicated. There are of course many other health impacts of rising temperatures, such as on cardiovascular diseases and infectious diseases, and naturally these were focused on first by researchers. But our study and other studies help reveal a little bit more about how climate-related exposures impact many areas of health and wellbeing, including mental health-related impacts.

What do we know about how high temperature impacts alcohol and drug users differently than other people?

While our study did not explicitly focus on regular alcohol and drug users, the majority of our data was likely from regular alcohol and substance users. Further work in this vein should focus on particular vulnerable communities, such as unhoused people.

What are the major challenges in conducting a study like this?

The main studies are obtaining complete and reliable data for exposure (temperature) and outcome (alcohol- and substance-related disorders in New York State). This takes time and needs to be done with care by an experienced researcher. Then modeling the association also requires specific expertise, and then understanding the plausibility of results needs input from psychology/psychiatry experts in this field, like Dr. Carl L. Hart, who was a co-author on this study. 

What future research do you hope builds on what you’ve learned from this study? 

Identifying the health impacts of climate-related exposures is one thing, but coming up with solutions to mitigating the worst impacts is another. I would personally like to see research into identifying the most vulnerable to temperature-related alcohol and substance use and solutions with how to mitigate the worst impacts.

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