Cold and Heat Exposure Linked to Increased Psychiatric Symptoms in Teens: JAMA

Key Findings

• Participant Demographics: The study analyzed data from 3,934 participants in Generation R (mean age 13.6 years; 50% female) and 885 participants in INMA (mean age 14.9 years; 52% female).

• Temperature Ranges: In the Netherlands, daily temperatures ranged from −5.2 °C to 32.6 °C, while in Spain, they ranged from 3.3 °C to 33.9 °C.

• Psychiatric Symptoms: Mean square-root transformed scores were 2.0 for internalizing problems, 1.6 for externalizing problems and 1.5 for attention problems, in Generation R. For INMA, they were 2.4, 2.1 and 1.5, respectively.

Temperature and Mental Health Associations:

• Netherlands: Greater cumulative exposure to cold was associated with more internalizing problems. For instance, exposure of 5.5 °C over a 2-month period was associated with a 0.76 increase in square-root points (95% CI, 0.20-1.32).

• Spain: Cumulative exposure to heat was associated with more attention problems. A 21.7 °C exposure over a 2-month period was associated with a 1.52 increase in square root points (95% CI, 0.39-2.66).

Researchers concluded that ambient temperature exposure has a strong association with the psychiatric symptoms of adolescents. Low ambient temperature in the Netherlands and high ambient temperature in Spain were associated with higher cases of mental health issues, and hence a region-specific approach to counter the adverse mental health effects of climate change on adolescents is required.

Reference:

Essers E, Kusters M, Granés L, et al. Temperature Exposure and Psychiatric Symptoms in Adolescents From 2 European Birth Cohorts. JAMA Netw Open. 2025;8(1):e2456898. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.56898