Australian study finds warm winter days boost youth mental‑health hospital admissions

Researchers analysing about 720,000 hospital presentations in New South Wales, Australia, discovered that unusually warm winter days are linked to a significant rise in emergency admissions for acute mental‑health conditions among children and young adults up to age 24. The strongest associations were observed for schizophrenia, eating disorders and deliberate self‑harm, with heat accounting for more than 8 % of winter mental‑health admissions compared with roughly 3 % in the summer.

Modelling future climate scenarios suggests that, by the 2090s, heat‑related mental‑health admissions could increase by 6‑8 % under low‑to‑moderate emissions pathways and by more than 20 % if greenhouse‑gas emissions remain high. Lead author Wen‑Qiang He warned that the findings highlight a growing pressure on mental‑health services and call for climate‑adaptation measures such as air‑conditioned spaces in schools and youth centres, adjusted activity schedules and inclusion of mental‑health alerts in heat warnings.