March 2015

Last week the ATS hosted Congressional briefings to share with members of Congress and their staff the results of the ATS membership survey on climate change. ATS members George Thurston ScD and Mary Rice MD briefed Congressional staff on the key points of the survey results, including:

• 89% of respondents believe climate change is happening
• 68% believe climate change is being driven entirely or mostly by human activity
• 65% believe climate change is relevant to direct patient care (either a great deal or a moderate amount)
• Free text responses indicate physician believe they are seeing climate change health effects in patients today

The ATS survey polled 5,500 US ATS members and asked a series of questions about climate change and its impact on patients. The survey had a response rate of 17% and received responses from 49 states and the District of Columbia. The survey results are published in the March issue of the Annals of the ATS.