As climate change increasingly affects human health, its implications for medication use have received surprisingly little attention. In this commentary, Sean Hennessy of the University of Pennsylvania and Soko Setoguchi of Rutgers introduce a new framework for understanding the two-way relationship between climate change and medications.
The article highlights how climate-related hazards such as extreme heat, power outages, severe storms, and supply chain disruptions can affect medication stability, access, safety, and effectiveness. At the same time, it examines how prescribing practices and pharmaceutical use contribute to healthcare’s environmental footprint. The authors identify important research gaps, including the need for better evidence on how environmental exposures influence medication outcomes and how healthcare systems can become more resilient to climate-related disruptions.
For DBEI faculty member Sean Hennessy, this work extends the field of pharmacoepidemiology into an emerging area of public health importance. By bringing together expertise in medication safety, environmental health, and healthcare sustainability, the commentary provides a roadmap for clinicians, researchers, and policymakers seeking to protect patients in a changing climate while advancing more sustainable healthcare practices.