Climate change impacts on neurodegenerative diseases: a state-of-the-art review

Climate change is a monumental challenge, impacting the environment and human health. Two hundred years after the first evidence, it is necessary to explore the links between climate change and neurodegenerative diseases, valuing the historical context in shaping the understanding of science for action. This state-of-the-art review exhaustively searched PMC, Medline, Cochrane Library, WoS, LILACS, Climate Change Impacts Studies Database, Scopus and Embase as the main data sources, with specific journals added to broaden the results. Studies published between 2023 and 2024 were considered, including original articles, systematic reviews and meta-analyses in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Inclusion criteria included studies that analyzed correlations between climate change and neurodegenerative diseases, while articles without empirical data, studies in animal models without clear environmental correlation and publications of low methodological quality were excluded. From this, the initial research question “Are there known impacts of climate change on neurodegenerative diseases?” was developed, followed by analysis of the selected articles. The year 2021 was a relevant period of change in the scientific evidence, with a large set of correlations being detected between aspects of climate change, including heat waves, air pollution, metals and other pollutants, and even changes in infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, with the development, pathophysiology and outcomes of neurodegenerative diseases, mainly through oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, excitotoxicity and abnormal activation of microglia. It is imperative that humanity begins to view neurodegenerative diseases as climate-sensitive and plans coordinated actions to address them, but also reduce their climate-related causes, considering the “One Health” approach.