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Climate change in Earth's polar regions is emerging as an underrecognized driver of global health risks, with consequences reaching far beyond the Arctic and Antarctic, researchers argue.

A study by an international team of scientists led by Professor Gail Whiteman from the University of Exeter Business School presents a comprehensive framework mapping the complex connections between physical changes in the Arctic and Antarctic that could amplify climate impacts on human health worldwide.

The research is in the journal Ambio.

The researchers reviewed a wide range of scientific literature across climate science, public health and other fields. They found that current models underestimate the direct and indirect impacts of changing polar regions on global health issues—from chronic disease to mental health challenges, and pregnancy complications.

They call for these amplified health risks to be integrated into health planning and policy.

"Polar change is not a distant crisis," said Netra Naik, Research Fellow at Arctic Basecamp and lead author of the paper. "Our review of the research shows that melting ice sheets, rising sea levels and shifting weather patterns have complex consequences that extend far beyond the Arctic and Antarctic—affecting food security, disease burden and health infrastructure. This is not just an environmental issue, but a global health emergency."

How polar warming drives global health threats

The study outlines how the polar regions, which are warming faster than the global average, are likely to trigger feedback loops and tipping cascades, reshaping global health risks in complicated and interlinked ways.

As rising temperatures weaken the jet stream and disrupt ocean currents, extreme weather is expected to drive up rates of severe injury, fatalities, and mental health disorders.

A seasonally ice-free Arctic is likely to contribute to a rise in the frequency and severity of El Niño episodes, worsening heat waves, especially in tropical areas. Rising temperatures are expected to increase diseases, including kidney and cardiovascular disease.

Sea level rise, driven by ice-sheet melt, could increase the salinity of ground water, and contaminate drinking water—potentially leading to increases in pre-eclampsia in pregnancy, infant mortality, and various types of cancer.

Polar warming could affect agricultural productivity indirectly—via disrupted precipitation and temperature patterns—increasing malnutrition-related disease.

Emerging diseases and threats to Arctic communities

Meanwhile, the warming climate is pushing insect and animal-borne diseases such as vibriosis, dengue fever, and Lyme disease into northern regions previously unaffected. Flooding, intensified by polar ice melt, is increasing the spread of waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid, while also exacerbating respiratory conditions.

In the Arctic itself, melting permafrost and sea ice threaten vital infrastructure and risk releasing long-trapped pollutants, and even ancient pathogens, such as the 1918 influenza virus.

The study also highlights the risks to traditional food sources due to ocean ecosystem changes, contributing to rising rates of malnutrition, miscarriages, kidney failure, and cardiovascular disease among Arctic communities already facing fragile health care systems.

Calls for action and global collaboration

The new framework sets out the link between polar physical changes and direct and indirect regional and global health risks, and calls for greater integration of the health risks amplified by polar physical changes into human health impact assessments.

"Ignoring these potential drivers of disease and death is not an option," said Professor Whiteman, Hoffmann Impact Professor for Accelerating Action on Nature and Climate. "We need stronger international collaboration between climate scientists, health professionals, and data experts to prevent harm and prepare our systems for the challenges ahead."