EXTREME temperatures are linked to higher rates of missed paediatric preventive care visits,1 a new cross-sectional time-series study has found amid ever-growing health concerns triggered by the climate crisis.
Researchers collected data from more than 4 million scheduled preventive care visits in the US, over a 15-year period.
More Missed Visits in Particularly High and Low Temperatures
The large-scale study analysed 504,428 patients with a mean age of 6-years-old: 49% female, 36% with public health insurance, and 27% from communities with very low socioeconomic statuses. Out of 4,137,542 scheduled preventive care visits, 13% were missed.
Each 1 °F drop below a maximum daily temperature of 41.5 °F in cold months (November to April) and 1 °F increase above 88 °F in warm months (May to October) were both associated with an approximately 1% higher rate of missed visits. More visits were also missed in colder months, compared with warmer.
Why are More Paediatric Care Visits Missed in Extreme Temperatures?
In line with prior research, the rate of missed paediatric care visits was higher among publicly insured children and children from neighbourhoods with lower socioeconomic statuses. Researchers suggested this may be due to greater transportation challenges in extreme temperatures.
Missed appointments were lower among children younger than 2-years-old compared with older children.
However, in particularly cold temperatures, commercially insured children and those living in communities with higher socioeconomic statuses had the highest rates of missed visits. This may be, researchers speculated, because associations with temperature are more apparent among children with lower baseline rates of missed visits.
Or, families from higher-opportunity neighbourhoods may have more flexibility to reschedule appointments in extremely cold weather conditions, researchers reported.
Alternative Care Delivery During Extreme Temperatures
Global temperatures are set to rise by 2.7 to 7.9 °F by the end of the 21st century.2
Findings point to a need for alternative scheduling strategies and care delivery frameworks during extreme temperatures, to ensure access to essential paediatric care, researchers reported.
They warned that, amid increasing frequency and intensity of extreme temperatures, hospitals and clinics should anticipate subsequent impacts on care visits to apprehend solutions.
Options include the organisation of telehealth appointments, facilitation of transport in extreme weather conditions, or adoption of weather-monitoring systems that trigger patient outreach.
References
1 Mayne SL et al. Extreme temperatures and missed pediatric preventive care visits. JAMA Netw Open. 2026;DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.10114.
2 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Climate change 2023: synthesis report. 2023. Available at: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_SYR_FullVolume.pdf. Last accessed: 29 April 2026.
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