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This brief background highlights Brazil as a 'climate-health hotspot', i.e. a country where climate affects local populations negatively through multiple pathways (Di Napoli et al. BMC Public Health 22(1):1-8, 2022). Knowledge gaps still need to be filled concerning the various climaterelated dimensions of tourism, vector-borne diseases, mortality and morbidity in urban centers in the country (Krüger et al. Int J Biometeorol 66(7):1297-1315, 2022). Motivated by this, the first Brazilian Symposium on Human Biometeorology (Simpósio Brasileiro de Biometeorologia Humana 2022) was organized and held at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) in Natal, northeastern Brazil, between July 4 and 8, 2022. The symposium was organized as a hybrid event by a committee composed of researchers acting in different regions of the country, and who had an ongoing research collaboration on matters related to human biometeorology. The event was partly sponsored by the ISB and partly self-supported by the organizers and institutions involved. The symposium aimed to promote the development of the research area on human biometeorology in Brazil in facing challenges imposed by a globally and locally changing climate. To achieve this, the symposium focused on five main topics of discussion: a) climate-driven diseases; b) thermal comfort, urban and architectural biometeorology; c) atmospheric pollution and health; d) climate change; e) climate, health and climate change. This summary highlights the main findings, future research directions, and policy implications in each topic from the presentations and panel discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to analyze meteorological variables versus hospital admissions for respiratory diseases for the age groups of children under five and the elderly (over 65 years of age) in different climate regions of Brazil, for the years 2018 and 2020, i.e., before and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the study was, on one hand, to evaluate the influence of weather variables on respiratory disease in humans, and on the other hand, take into account two years with differing dynamics due to a worldwide pandemic that significantly changed people's lifestyles. The human biometeorological index (Universal Thermal Climate Index, UTCI) was used as representative of the integral association of meteorological variables. UTCI data were obtained from the ERA5-HEAT reanalysis database, which provides hourly grid data with a spatial resolution of 0.25° × 0.25°. The Brazilian cities Manaus, Brasilia and Porto Alegre, which represent different climatic contexts in the country, were used in the analysis. The method compared temperature and climate reanalysis data to hospital admission data for respiratory diseases, obtained from the Brazilian Unified Health System database (DATASUS), according to the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition (ICD-10). Correlation analysis was performed between variables (hospital admissions versus climate-related data) in order to identify associations between them, also accounting for different time-lag effects. We analyzed seasonal influences on the obtained correlations, correlation strength and direct or inverse relationships. Results showed that the pandemic interfered in the association between morbidity due to respiratory illnesses and climate-related variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic review aims to give an overview of the diversity of research areas related to human biometeorology in Brazil. The main focus of this paper addresses research trends, represented by published papers with national and international authorship, main contributions and shortcomings, as well as challenges and prospects of research in this area of study. An extensive literature search was conducted in the Scopus, Web of Science, and Science Direct databases so as to identify relevant publication output up to July 2021 related to the research area. The screening resulted in 96 studies chosen for full-text reading. Overall, results indicated a reduced amount of articles on the subject matter published internationally, with noticeable gaps in research in some regions of the country, such as the Amazon region and in the Brazilian Midwest region. Research gaps in relevant areas have been identified with limited output in the climate dimensions of tourism, vector-borne diseases, mortality and morbidity in urban centers. Such gaps should further encourage researchers to engage in research focused on those areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]