BackgroundWeather 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.ObjectiveTo examine associations between daily weather conditions and unscheduled mental health–related healthcare contacts in England using large-scale national surveillance data.MethodsWe 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.ResultsMental 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.ConclusionIn 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.
Radically different