ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Environmental Health and Exposome
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1451933
This article is part of the Research TopicEvaluating Public Health Strategies for Climate Change: Risk and OpportunitiesView all 5 articles
Perceptions of coastal dwellers about the effects of extreme temperature and saline water on human health: Evidence from Bangladesh
Provisionally accepted
- 1Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, United States
- 2University of Chittagong, Chittagong, Chittagong, Bangladesh
- 3University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
- 4Tsinghua University, Beijing, Beijing, China
- 5Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
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Background: Climate change disproportionately affects coastal communities worldwide, increasing exposure to extreme temperature and saline water intrusion. Understanding these impacts is critical for public health planning and intervention. This study aims to examine the perceptions about the effects of climate change-induced phenomena, specifically extreme temperature and water salinity, on the overall human health of coastal communities residing in Ramgati, Lakshmipur, Bangladesh.The study adopted a quantitative research approach and utilized a cross-sectional survey design to gather data. The sample consisted of 391 participants (N = 391) residing in the coastal region of Ramgati. A structured questionnaire was employed to collect data. The gathered data were subjected to several bivariate analyses, including independent-sample t-tests, Pearson correlation analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis, using IBM SPSS version 24.0.Participants exposed to higher extreme temperature reported their perceptions of various health effects, such as heat stroke, dengue epidemic, migraine and headache.Additionally, participants experiencing elevated water salinity reported different health effects, including hair loss, high blood pressure, diarrhea, maternal health problems, child development, and hindered child mental health development. Linear regression analysis revealed that participants' age (β = 0.33, p < .001), gender (β = -0.16, p < .001), perceived risk of health diseases (β = 0.17, p < .001), high salinity in water (β = 0.15, p = .002), and high temperature (β = 0.25, p < .001) were significantly associated with the perception of health effects.This study highlights the importance of addressing key issues regarding the effects of extreme temperature and saline water on human health. Specifically, the study reports on access to clean drinking water, climate change adaptation strategies, health education and awareness, an integrated public health approach, and the needs of vulnerable populations, in order to mitigate the effects of climate change on human health living in the coastal areas.
Keywords: Climate Change, Extreme temperature, Water salinity, health effects, Coastal area
Received: 20 Jun 2024; Accepted: 20 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zakaria, Karim, Islam, Ahammad, Cheng and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Junfang Xu, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
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