Article
Climate Therapy and Related Health Promoting Interventions in Adults and Children: A Scoping Review
Search Medline for
Authors
-
Katharina Zink
- State Institute of Health I, Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Erlangen, Germany; Institute of Clinical Epidemiology and Biometry, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
-
Anna Kirchner
- State Institute of Health I, Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Erlangen, Germany; Institute of Clinical Epidemiology and Biometry, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
-
Antonio Tischew
- State Institute of Health I, Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Erlangen, Germany
-
Carolin Stupp
- State Institute of Health I, Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Erlangen, Germany; Institute of Clinical Epidemiology and Biometry, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
-
Thomas Keil
- State Institute of Health I, Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Erlangen, Germany; Institute of Clinical Epidemiology and Biometry, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany; Institute of Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| Published: | September 6, 2024 |
|---|
Outline
Text
Introduction: The long tradition of climate therapy (or climatotherapy) refers to the assumption that certain climatic exposures may be favorable to manage and prevent various diseases and promote general health. Due to the broad spectrum of procedures and medical indications, we decided to conduct a scoping review. Thus, our objective was to identify and describe aims, methods and outcomes of intervention studies examining common climate therapy procedures including for general health promotion.
Methods: We searched major medical databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library) for trials and systematic reviews, complemented by screening all references of the included publications. We included intervention studies with patients or healthy individuals (adults or children), with or without a control group if they examined the effects of one of the following interventions: exposure to moderate or high-altitude up to 2,000 meters, natural sun light (heliotherapy), salty air (halotherapy), or cave environments (speleotherapy). We included studies without any restriction by language or date of publication. Two reviewers independently screened abstracts and full texts for inclusion.
Results: Overall, we were able to include 55 trials, 43 on adults and 12 on children (46 published in English, 9 in Russian). Most trials were carried out in European countries, including Austria, Switzerland, Spain and Russia, or in Israel. A preliminary analysis showed that out of all studies, 39 used a control group (24 were randomized). Most trials examined moderate to high altitude (15 on adults and 2 on children) and natural sunlight (18 on adults, 3 on children) as interventions, less trials salty air (7 on adults, 5 on children) and cave environments (3 on adults, 2 on children). The most studied diseases were those of the skin (n=17) including psoriasis or actinic keratosis, and of the lung (n=14), including asthma and chronic bronchitis. The remaining trials examined cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome or allergies. 8 studies examined healthy individuals. Mapping, critically assessing and summarizing study designs, interventions and outcomes are currently ongoing.
Conclusion: Considering the long tradition of climate therapy and its natural availability, we identified relatively few comparative intervention studies. For specific procedures and conditions, stringent systematic reviews (perhaps with meta-analyses) may be considered to determine more precisely the preventive and therapeutic potential of the interventions and their safety.
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
The authors declare that an ethics committee vote is not required.
