The sweeping list of potential health implications include the introduction of new diseases; an increase in accidents; an increase in anxiety and depression; a worsening allergy season; and increasingly dangerous hunting and harvesting conditions limiting subsistence activity.
State health officials say the 77-page report is meant to raise awareness of how climate change could impact public health in a state where, over the past century, the air and water temperatures have warmed faster than the rest of the country.
[Alaska just had its warmest December on record]
"We wanted to get ahead of the potential health impacts of climate change in Alaska and make sure we could provide a big-picture perspective on what we can expect if the (National Climate Assessment) prediction models are accurate," said Dr. Joe McLaughlin, state epidemiologist at the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.
McLaughlin said the division started working on the report in 2015.
While there were analyses of the potential health impacts of climate change in certain Alaska communities, a detailed statewide report did not exist, said Sarah Yoder, lead author of the report and a public health specialist in the Environmental Public Health Program at the department.
A statewide report on how climate change could affect health is still rare in the U.S.
"This report is one of the only reports, really, nationwide that provides a statewide overview of the potential health impacts of climate change," Yoder said.
Read more at Alaska Releases First Detailed Report on Negative Health Impacts of Climate Change
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