Climate extremes may strain general surgery—but evidence is thin

A scoping review found that heat and extreme weather are associated with changing surgical demand, disrupted access, and worse outcomes, but the evidence is too limited to guide practice changes.

• Only 28 of 5,110 screened studies met inclusion criteria.
• Temperature anomalies were linked to more trauma, skin and soft-tissue infections, and complicated appendicitis; extreme weather was associated with increased emergency volume and reduced access to care.
• Five studies linked temperature anomalies to higher surgical-site infection rates; two found no association.

For surgeons, the signal is a potential rise in demand and care disruption—not proof of causation or a basis for changing operative decisions.