Lucas Rebekah A I
School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
La Isla Network, Washington, DC, USA.
Exp Physiol. 2025 Feb;110(2):200-205. doi: 10.1113/EP091456. Epub 2024 Dec 9.
Climate change is a health-risk and health-inequity multiplier with excessive heat exposure a direct climate change impact already affecting the health and livelihood of billions globally. Women face greater risks and burdens from climate change impacts. Biological sex may or may not influence an individual's thermoregulatory capacity, heat tolerance or heat susceptibility. However at a population level, sex differences in physiological characteristics (anthropometrics, aerobic capacity, etc.) likely affect thermoregulatory capacity. Still, gender appears to play the most significant role in heat exposure and resulting health impacts. For climate change resilience and adaptation strategies to be effective, public health and occupational guidance/governance must be based on comprehensive and representative evidence. The current dearth of empirical evidence on how excessive heat exposure affects women prohibits this. Environmental and exercise physiology can help address this lack of empirical evidence by adhering to inclusive research guidelines. This paper is based on a symposium presentation given at Physiology 2023 in Harrogate, UK. Using a multi-year cohort study on industrial agricultural workers (the Adelante Initiative) as a case study, this review discusses the role of environmental and exercise physiology in generating inclusive research and evidence to inform occupational and public health guidance/governance for climate change resilience and adaptation, specifically heat exposure.
气候变化是健康风险和健康不平等的倍增器，过度暴露于高温是气候变化的直接影响，已经在影响全球数十亿人的健康和生计。女性面临着更大的气候变化影响风险和负担。生理性别可能会也可能不会影响个体的体温调节能力、耐热性或热易感性。然而，在人群层面，生理特征（人体测量学、有氧能力等）的性别差异可能会影响体温调节能力。尽管如此，性别似乎在高温暴露及其对健康的影响中起着最重要的作用。为了使气候变化适应能力和适应战略有效，公共卫生和职业指导/治理必须基于全面且具有代表性的证据。而目前关于过度暴露于高温如何影响女性的实证证据匮乏，阻碍了这一点。环境生理学和运动生理学可以通过遵循包容性研究指南来帮助弥补这一实证证据的不足。本文基于在英国哈罗盖特举行的2023年生理学会议上的一次专题研讨会发言。以一项针对产业农业工人的多年队列研究（阿德拉ante倡议）为案例研究，本综述讨论了环境生理学和运动生理学在生成包容性研究和证据方面的作用，以为职业和公共卫生指导/治理提供信息，以增强气候变化适应能力和促进适应，特别是针对高温暴露。
