Work

Age-stratified health impacts of climate change on older adults in the Western Pacific Region: a scoping review

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: While research on the health impacts of climate change is growing, studies integrating these effects across finer age strata within older adult populations, such as distinguishing young-old from old-old adults remain scarce, particularly in the Western Pacific region. This scoping review synthesizes 119 cases extracted from 100 peer-reviewed studies published from 2016 to 2025, identified via systematic searches of PubMed, Scopus, and Embase using keyword clusters for older adults, climate change, and the Western Pacific. Most cases (n = 61, 51%) examined heat, followed by extreme cold (n = 31, 26%), air pollution (n = 11, 9%), with geographic concentration in mainland China (n = 84, 71%); old-old adults generally showed greater vulnerability than young-old adults. These findings suggest heterogeneity in climate impacts among older adults, indicating that a one-size-fits-all approach may be insufficient and that finer age stratifications could help inform policies better tailored to old-old adults.

Source: The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific

DOI: 10.1016/j.lanwpc.2026.102004