The effect of weather on unscheduled healthcare utilisation for mental health conditions in England, 2014-2022

AI Summary

Short-term temperature and sunshine variations were modestly but consistently associated with unscheduled mental health healthcare demand, typically within 10-20% of baseline.
Fewer hours of sunshine were clearly linked to increased contacts across emergency departments, GP out-of-hours services and the NHS 111 telephone advice line.
Rainfall showed no consistent association; adults aged over 64 exhibited a U-shaped temperature response with higher ED attendances in cold and warm conditions.

Front Psychiatry. 2026 Jun 30;17:1835204. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1835204. eCollection 2026.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Weather conditions have been linked to adverse mental health outcomes, and rising concern about climate change has increased interest in these associations. However, most existing research focuses on extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, or on acute clinical outcomes, such as suicide. Evidence is more limited regarding population-level variations in mental health-related healthcare utilisation across the full range of daily weather conditions.

OBJECTIVE: To examine associations between daily weather conditions and unscheduled mental health-related healthcare contacts in England using large-scale national surveillance data.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective observational study across nine English regions from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2022. Outcomes were daily counts of unscheduled mental health-related contacts to emergency departments (EDs), general practice out-of-hours (GP OOH) services, and the NHS 111 telephone advice line. Weather exposures included mean daily temperature (°C), hours of full sunshine, and total daily rainfall (mm). Associations were estimated using distributed lag non-linear models at regional level and combined through two-stage multivariate meta-analysis. Models were adjusted for seasonality, long-term trends, day of week, public holidays, and population size.

RESULTS: Mental health-related unscheduled healthcare contacts showed modest but consistent associations with temperature and sunshine. Across services, relative risks (demand) increased with rising temperatures up to around 18 °C and were higher on days with fewer hours of sunshine. Sunshine demonstrated the clearest pattern, with increased utilisation on low-sunshine days across all healthcare settings. Rainfall was not consistently associated with healthcare contacts. Age-stratified analyses showed a U-shaped relationship between temperature and ED attendances among adults aged over 64 years, with higher utilisation during both colder and warmer conditions. Overall variations in daily healthcare demand were modest, typically within ±10-20% of baseline levels.

CONCLUSION: In England, short-term variations in temperature and sunshine are associated with changes in unscheduled mental health-related healthcare utilisation, whereas rainfall shows little consistent effect. Although effect sizes were modest, these findings highlight the role of everyday weather conditions in influencing mental health-related healthcare demand and may support planning and preparedness efforts for mental health services under current and future climate conditions.

PMID:42445545 | PMC:PMC13363332 | DOI:10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1835204

Document this CPD