Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26216952›Full record

SynthesisProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2015

Systematic review of current efforts to quantify the impacts of climate change on undernutrition.

Revati K Phalkey, Clara Aranda-Jan, Sabrina Marx, Bernhard Höfle, Rainer Sauerborn

Open access · bronzeAbstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 89 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
89citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
10.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

89 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 250 citations in OpenAlex.

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  18. Malnutrition and Climate in Niger: Findings from Climate Indices and Crop Yield Simulations.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025
    Article
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  20. Article

29 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Revati K PhalkeyInstitute of Public Health, Heidelberg University, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, Nottingham Medical School, City Hospital, NG5 1PB, Nottingham, United Kingdom; rphalkey@urz.uni-heidelberg.de.
Clara Aranda-JanInstitute of Public Health, Heidelberg University, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Institute for Manufacturing, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB30FS, United Kingdom;
Sabrina MarxInstitute of Geography, Heidelberg University, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Bernhard HöfleInstitute of Geography, Heidelberg University, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Rainer SauerbornInstitute of Public Health, Heidelberg University, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany;
Heidelberg University · DENottingham City Hospital · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Malnutrition is a challenge to the health and productivity of populations and is viewed as one of the five largest adverse health impacts of climate change. Nonetheless, systematic evidence quantifying these impacts is currently limited. Our aim was to assess the scientific evidence base for the impact of climate change on childhood undernutrition (particularly stunting) in subsistence farmers in low- and middle-income countries. A systematic review was conducted to identify peer-reviewed and gray full-text documents in English with no limits for year of publication or study design. Fifteen manuscripts were reviewed. Few studies use primary data to investigate the proportion of stunting that can be attributed to climate/weather variability. Although scattered and limited, current evidence suggests a significant but variable link between weather variables, e.g., rainfall, extreme weather events (floods/droughts), seasonality, and temperature, and childhood stunting at the household level (12 of 15 studies, 80%). In addition, we note that agricultural, socioeconomic, and demographic factors at the household and individual levels also play substantial roles in mediating the nutritional impacts. Comparable interdisciplinary studies based on primary data at a household level are urgently required to guide effective adaptation, particularly for rural subsistence farmers. Systemization of data collection at the global level is indispensable and urgent. We need to assimilate data from long-term, high-quality agricultural, environmental, socioeconomic, health, and demographic surveillance systems and develop robust statistical methods to establish and validate causal links, quantify impacts, and make reliable predictions that can guide evidence-based health interventions in the future.

Indexed as

Climate ChangeAgricultureChildChild, PreschoolClimateCrops, AgriculturalDecision MakingEnvironmentGlobal HealthGrowth DisordersHumansMalnutritionSocial ClassWeatherchildhood undernutritionclimate changecrop yieldmalnutritionweather variability

Identifiers

PMID26216952
PMCPMC4547305
OpenAlexW1750617262

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.