Effect of apparent temperature on daily emergency admissions for mental and behavioral disorders in Yancheng, China: a time-series study

Abstract

BackgroundVery few studies have focused on the relationship between ambient apparent temperature (AT) and admission of mental and behaviour disorders (MDs). Therefore, a time-series study was conducted in Yancheng, China, to explore the effects of AT on the daily emergency admissions of patients with MDs over the period of 2014–17.MethodsA quasi-Poisson generalized linear model (GLM) combined with a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) was adopted to explore the associations after adjusting for time trend, day of the week, humidity, sunshine duration, rainfall, holidays and air pollutants. In the subgroup analysis, the modification effects of age and sex were also examined.ResultsOverall, 8438 cases of MDs emergency admissions were identified. With the apparent temperature with the minimum number of admissions (− 3.4 °C) serving as a reference, a positive correlation emerged between high AT and daily emergency admissions of patients with MDs in Yancheng, China, with the lagged effect of 1 to 5 days. The subgroup analysis demonstrated a positive relationship between AT and MDs emergency admissions among males and individuals younger than 45 years old, with no lagged effect.ConclusionsThe results will provide important scientific evidence for mental health policy-makers and practitioners for possible intervention, especially among the vulnerable populations.

Short-term effect of apparent temperature on daily emergency visits for mental and behavioral disorders in Beijing, China: A time-series study

“…Because of the various methodological settings, we can only compare the results from different studies to some extent. Min et al (2019) found a positive correlation emerged between high AT and daily emergency admissions of MDs in Yancheng, China, which is consistent with our study. But the single lag effect and the cumulative effect lasted 5 days and 12 days, respectively, which was much longer than that of our study.…”

“…In addition, the study in Germany identified high risk of hospital admissions due to MDs at lower temperatures ( Shiue et al, 2016 ). When compared the effects of low and high AT in our study, we found a much stronger effect of high AT on MDs, which has also been demonstrated in most of the related studies that a close correlation between high temperature and MDs existed ( Peng et al, 2017 ; Carlsen et al, 2019 ; Almendra et al, 2019 ; Min et al, 2019 ). We suggested that the difference of effects between low and high temperature needed to be further studied in the future.…”

“… Basu et al (2018) concluded the similar finding that a 5.6 °C increase in same-day AT was associated with 4.8% (95% CI: 3.6%–6.0%) increases in the risk of emergency room visits for MDs. Several studies ( Peng et al, 2017 ; Almendra et al, 2019 ; Min et al, 2019 ; Wang et al, 2018 ; Wang et al, 2014 ) found the positive correlation between high temperature and MDs but didn't observe the same relationship for low temperature. In our study, the single day effect of low AT emerged from the 3rd day to the 6th day and the maximum increased risk could be 4.3% on the 4th day after exposure.…”

“…However, some studies showed different results. For example, a study found the effects of high AT on males and females were similar but the effect of low AT on female was not significant ( Min et al, 2019 ). Wang et al (2018) found a significant difference in admission rates for schizophrenia between males and females when the temperature increased, with admissions for males greater than those for females.…”

“…A study conducted in California, US introduced AT to take into account the combined exposure of temperature and humidity ( Basu et al, 2018 ). AT was also adopted to reflect human thermal to explore the effect of temperature on MDs in Yancheng, China ( Min et al, 2019 ). Though some studies focused on the relationship between temperature and MDs, few researchers used AT as the study variable to quantify its effect on emergency visits of MDs ( Peng et al, 2017 ; Almendra et al, 2019 ; Yi et al, 2019a ; Min et al, 2019 ; Chan et al, 2018 ; Wang et al, 2018 ; Yi et al, 2019b ).…”