Climate Change and Physiatry: A Call to Proportional and Prospective Action.
Anita Lowe Taylor, Danielle Perret, Karen Morice, Ross Zafonte, Felicia Skelton, Evan Rivers, Marcalee Alexander
PMID 35363629WHAT IT FOUND
This paper is a call to action for physiatrists regarding climate change.
It outlines theoretical risks to patients with disabilities and suggests advocacy strategies. It contains no original research, no patient data, and no tested interventions.
What this paper is
This is an editorial calling for physiatrists to address the health impacts of climate change. It describes theoretical risks to patients with disabilities and proposes advocacy strategies, but it reports no original methods, no patient outcomes, and no tested interventions, so there is nothing here to change your clinical practice on.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the proposed strategies, such as cooling vests or evacuation planning, as evidence-based interventions. The paper offers no data on whether these measures improve health outcomes for patients with disabilities.