![]() Floods can often wreak havoc on populations and their homes and leave devastating long-term health, livelihood and financial consequences. ![]() In addition, sea-level rise can specifically impact coastal communities, particularly during storm events. This can be a result of heavy precipitation, snow melt, and the failure of dams and levees. Many cities can be at-risk for inland flooding, when the volume of water on land is greater than the capacity of the natural and built drainage systems. Future studies can build upon this methodology to further understand the spatial variation in vulnerability and to identify and prioritise actionable areas for adaptation.Ĭlimate change is projected to increase the likelihood of flooding, extreme heat, wildfire smoke, and ozone events affecting communities around the world – reshaping the sustainability, health, and well-being of these communities and their surrounding areas. The creation of hazard and category-specific vulnerability indices (exposure, adaptive capacity and sensitivity sub-scores) supports evidence-based approaches to prioritize public health responses to climate-related hazards and to reduce inequity by assessing relative differences in vulnerability along with absolute impacts. ![]() Distinct spatial patterns were observed – for example, although patterns varied by hazard, vulnerability was generally higher in more deprived and more outlying neighbourhoods of the study region. There was overall varied contribution of adaptive capacity (16–49%) across all hazards. Sensitivity was weighted much higher for extreme heat, wildfire smoke and ground-level ozone, and adaptive capacity was highly weighted for flooding vulnerability. For each hazard, 3 to 5 principal components explaining 72 to 94% of the total variance were retained. ![]() Two hundred eighty-one epidemiological papers met the study criteria and were used to identify 36 determinant indicators that were operationalized across all hazards. Scores were then categorised into quintiles and mapped. In addition to an overall vulnerability score, exposure, adaptive capacity, and sensitivity sub-scores were computed for each hazard. A two-step principal component analysis (PCA) was then used to select and weight variables for each relative vulnerability score. ![]() Data were aggregated to 4188 Census dissemination areas within two health authorities in British Columbia, Canada. Identified determinants were then grouped into categories of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity and aligned with available data. MethodsĪ systematic literature review was conducted to identify the determinants of health hazards among populations impacted by CCRHHs. To evaluate spatial variability in relative vulnerability, we: 1) identified climate change-related risk factors at the dissemination area level 2) created actionable health vulnerability index scores to map community risks to extreme heat, flooding, wildfire smoke, and ground-level ozone and 3) spatially evaluated vulnerability patterns and priority areas of action to address inequity. Although the frequency and magnitude of climate change-related health hazards (CCRHHs) are likely to increase, the population vulnerabilities and corresponding health impacts are dependent on a community’s exposures, pre-existing sensitivities, and adaptive capacities in response to a hazard’s impact. ![]()
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