Evaluation of a Heat Vulnerability Index on Abnormally Hot Days: An Environmental Public Health Tracking Study

Abstract

Background: Extreme hot weather conditions have been associated with increased morbidity and mortality, but risks are not evenly distributed throughout the population. Previously, a heat vulnerability index (HVI) was created to geographically locate populations with increased vulnerability to heat in metropolitan areas throughout the United States.Objectives: We sought to determine whether areas with higher heat vulnerability, as characterized by the HVI, experienced higher rates of morbidity and mortality on abnormally hot days.Methods: We used Poisson regression to model the interaction of HVI and deviant days (days whose deviation of maximum temperature from the 30-year normal maximum temperature is at or above the 95th percentile) on hospitalization and mortality counts in five states participating in the Environmental Public Health Tracking Network for the years 2000 through 2007.Results: The HVI was associated with higher hospitalization and mortality rates in all states on both normal days and deviant days. However, associations were significantly stronger (interaction p-value < 0.05) on deviant days for heat-related illness, acute renal failure, electrolyte imbalance, and nephritis in California, heat-related illness in Washington, all-cause mortality in New Mexico, and respiratory hospitalizations in Massachusetts.Conclusion: Our results suggest that the HVI may be a marker of health vulnerability in general, although it may indicate greater vulnerability to heat in some cases.

Ambient temperature during gestation and cold-related adult mortality in a Swedish cohort, 1915–2002

“…Research, however, finds non-linear relationships between cold and mortality such that extreme cold events exert the largest IHD and stroke mortality response (Patz et al, 2000). Consistent with this logic and previous climatic research (Reid et al, 2012), we classified extreme cold days as those that fell below the lowest 5 th percentile of the average daily Since the risk of death reportedly remains elevated for one week after extreme cold (Donaldson and Keatinge, 1997;Hong et al, 2003), we defined a daily binary indicator as "1" if at least one extreme cold day occurred in the past six days. This coding yields a sequence of days for which the indicator is "1".…”

Vulnerabilidade social em famílias que convivem com comportamento aditivo por tempo prolongado

“…Its use requires an analysis of its limitations and potentialities, but its application allows the interpretation of results comparatively with the trend analysis of a social reality, such as the follow-up of dimensions of individuals' life course, the living conditions at home, and residence arrangements. (2)(3)(4) Considering the specificity of the group studied, a priori, sentinel events presented characteristics of individual vulnerability: unemployment; low educational level; daily use of drugs and illegal maneuvers for their acquisition. However, three situations demonstrate the influence from the individual (users) to the collective (families): addictive behavior for more than 20 years, above the national average of 13 years; (7) cycle of abstinence and relapses, and victims of various episodes of physical aggression and traffic accidents.…”

“…The concept of vulnerability is delimited by dynamic and multigenerational social processes involving at least three dimensions, namely: exposure to risk trajectories; internal and external reaction capacities; and adaptation possibilities based on both the intensity of the risk and the resilience of people. (1)(2)(3) Considering the concern of not limiting the evaluation of vulnerability to the analysis of income, in the decade of 1990, several indicators were statistically constructed with the objective of understanding the social reality through a single measure that combined multiple measurements of its quantifiable analytical dimensions. These instruments are facilitators for policy-making, decision-making in public spheres, and for the negotiation of indicators of national and global public policy agendas.…”

“…These instruments are facilitators for policy-making, decision-making in public spheres, and for the negotiation of indicators of national and global public policy agendas. (2)(3)(4) Synthetic indicators are synthesized measures used to apprehend a particular social reality or dimensions of the social world. The application of these measures rests on the opportunity to summarize multidimensional and complex issues with the possibility of interpreting results comparatively in different social realities by following the evolution of the situation and the chosen unit of reference, identifying dimensions of the life course of individuals and families, and monitoring social indicators of territories and environmental conditions.…”

Internet-Based Heat Evaluation and Assessment Tool (I-HEAT): Development of a Novel Visualization and Decision-support Tool for Extreme Heat Preparedness in Detroit, Michigan

“…Heat vulnerability indices (HVIs) are often mapped to display spatial patterns of vulnerability (Harlan et al 2013, Reid et al 2009, Johnson et al 2012. Following Reid et al (2009), we calculated and mapped an HVI comprised of individual-and community-level characteristics that contribute to heat-related vulnerability (Reid et al 2012). Data were obtained from the 2000 U.S. Census (www.census.gov) and aggregated at the census tract level.…”