Climate Change and Human Health Impacts in the United States: An Update on the Results of the U.S. National Assessment

Ebi, Kristie L.; Mills, David M.; Smith, Joel B.; Grambsch, Anne

Another group the HSA identified as being more vulnerable to climate-sensitive health outcomes is individuals who are immunocompromised. This group includes persons with weakened immunity as a result of chronic diseases (e.g., HIV/AIDS, certain cancers) or drug treatment (e.g., transplant patients). The roughly 344,000 people living with HIV/AIDS as of December 2001 provides a lower bound estimate of the current immunocompromised U.S. population (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2001). Projecting future trends in the immunocompromised population is difficult because of the need to account for the cumulative impacts of changes in population, behavior, and medical technology. For example, future medical advances could increase or decrease the size of this population; it would decrease if cures are found for diseases such as HIV/AIDS and would increase if treatments keep more individuals alive for longer.