Bailie Jodie, Matous Petr, Apelt Byron, Longman Jo, McNaught Rebecca, Morgan Geoff, Ekanayake Kanchana, Bailie Ross
University Centre for Rural Health, The University of Sydney, Lismore, New South Wales, Australia
Centre for Disability Research and Policy, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
BMJ Open. 2024 Dec 4;14(12):e089039. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-089039.
Australia is frequently affected by floods, and their severity and frequency are predicted to increase due to the effects of climate change. Over the past decade, there has been an increase in the number of publications reporting on the health impacts of flooding in Australia, but no synthesis of this research evidence has previously been published. The aim of this scoping review is to identify and map publications on the health impacts of flooding in Australia and to describe the networks of researchers contributing to this research.
In the study, we applied the scoping review methodology guided by Johanna Briggs Institute and coauthorship network analysis. Searches were conducted in MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CINHAL, Scopus and Web of Science for all publications up to 31 December 2023. Screening, full-text review and data extraction were completed by two independent reviewers. Coauthor networks were constructed using social network analysis methods.
69 publications were included, spanning a 70-year period from 1951 to 2023. The top three health impacts studied were post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), distress and child developmental outcomes, with the predominant focus in the past 10 years of recent publications on prenatal maternal stress, child outcomes and mental health impacts. There was minimal focus on socially vulnerable groups and long-term health impacts and few qualitative research studies were reported. Coauthorship analysis showed the primarily disease-specific nature of flood-related research.
Our review enhances understanding of the research on the physical and mental health impacts of flooding in Australia by identifying the areas of relatively greater research activity, existing research gaps and potential future research priorities. Given the context-dependent nature of flood and other climate-related health impacts, and of mitigation and adaptation responses, we anticipate that our review findings will enhance the understanding of this topic for Australia and other higher-income countries, identifying areas of focus and current research gaps.
澳大利亚经常遭受洪水侵袭，预计由于气候变化的影响，洪水的严重程度和发生频率将会增加。在过去十年中，澳大利亚关于洪水对健康影响的出版物数量有所增加，但此前尚未对这一研究证据进行综合分析。本范围综述的目的是识别和梳理澳大利亚关于洪水对健康影响的出版物，并描述参与该研究的研究人员网络。
在本研究中，我们采用了由乔安娜·布里格斯研究所指导的范围综述方法和共同作者网络分析。检索了MEDLINE、Embase、PsycINFO、CINHAL、Scopus和Web of Science数据库，获取截至2023年12月31日的所有出版物。筛选、全文审查和数据提取由两名独立评审员完成。使用社会网络分析方法构建共同作者网络。
共纳入69篇出版物，时间跨度为1951年至2023年的70年。研究的前三大健康影响是创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）、痛苦和儿童发育结果，最近10年的出版物主要关注产前母亲压力、儿童结局和心理健康影响。对社会弱势群体和长期健康影响的关注极少，定性研究报告也很少。共同作者分析表明，洪水相关研究主要具有疾病特异性。
我们的综述通过识别相对更多研究活动的领域、现有研究差距和潜在的未来研究重点，增强了对澳大利亚洪水对身心健康影响研究的理解。鉴于洪水和其他与气候相关的健康影响以及缓解和适应应对措施具有情境依赖性，我们预计我们的综述结果将增进澳大利亚和其他高收入国家对这一主题的理解，确定重点关注领域和当前研究差距。
