Along with changing coastlines, crops and summer camp plans, climate change may wreak another form of havoc — on women’s health.
According to a study published in May in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, a warming world could also increase women’s rates of cancer. Along with increasing rates of occurrence, the study pointed to mortality increases, too.
Global warming could increase rates of cancer in women
The study focused on women’s health in 17 countries in the Middle East and North Africa — already-hot parts of the globe that have been getting even hotter. The findings were disturbing: breast, ovarian, uterine and cervical cancers all became both more common with each degree of temperature increase — and more fatal.
Using cancer prevalence and mortality data — as well as temperature changes — over the two decades between 1998 and 2019, the researchers found that the overall prevalence of these four cancers increased from 173 cases per 100,000 people to 280 cases for every additional degree Celsius. Mortality rates increased from 171 deaths per 100,000 people to 332 deaths at the same scale. These increases are small, but statistically significant, and are not explained by improved diagnostics or survival rates.
However, trends differed between specific types of cancers — as well as different countries. Overall, researchers found that ovarian cancer rates saw the biggest increases, and breast cancer rates, the least. Additionally, some countries had more pronounced increases than others. For instance, breast cancer rates rose by 560 cases per 100,000 for each degree Celsius increase in Qatar, but only by 330 cases in Bahrain.
It’s important to factor in, too, that women remain a marginalized population in many of the studied countries, and many have less access to early screening and treatment. However, as climate change progresses, the study could have implications for women in other parts of the world as well — especially pregnant women, who are among the most vulnerable to heat-related health risks and changes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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Global heating may be fuelling rise in deadly cancers among women – Study authors warn women are ‘physiologically more vulnerable’ to climate-related health risks
Rising temperatures could be increasing the risk of fatal cancers among women in some of the world’s hottest regions, a new study found.
Researchers analysed cancer trends across 17 Middle Eastern and North African countries and found that as temperatures increased, driven by the climate crisis, so did the rates and severity of four major cancers affecting women – breast, ovarian, uterine, and cervical.
They found that each degree Celsius rise in heat between 1998 and 2019 was associated with statistically significant increases in both cancer prevalence and mortality.
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Global warming could be driving up women’s cancer risk
Scientists investigating the impact of climate change on women’s health have found that increased heat is linked to an increase in rates of breast, ovarian, uterine and cervical cancers. They looked at 17 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, where temperatures are expected to rise by 4 degrees Celsius by 2050, and found that these four cancers became more common and more likely to be fatal with each degree rise in temperature. The increase can’t be explained by improved diagnosis or survival rates. The researchers call for the urgent integration of climate change resilience into public health plans.
Scientists have found that global warming in the Middle East and North Africa is making breast, ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancer more common and more deadly. The rise in rates is small but statistically significant, suggesting a notable increase in cancer risk and fatalities over time.
“As temperatures rise, cancer mortality among women also rises — particularly for ovarian and breast cancers,” said Dr Wafa Abuelkheir Mataria of the American University in Cairo, first author of the article in Frontiers in Public Health. “Although the increases per degree of temperature rise are modest, their cumulative public health impact is substantial.”
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I can’t stress this enough: Climate scammers think you’re stupid. pic.twitter.com/X6mqZNU1Vc
— Tom Nelson (@TomANelson) June 28, 2025
