Heat-related morbidity and mortality in New England: Evidence for local policy

Wellenius, Gregory A.; Eliot, Melissa; Bush, Kathleen F.; Holt, Dennis; Lincoln, Rebecca A.; Smith, Andrew; Gold, Julia

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2017.02.005

Cited by 46 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…In summary, our results confirm that both hot and cold temperatures are associated with emergency department visits and deaths in southern New England. Although current preventive strategies often focus on reducing health impacts at extreme temperatures, consistent with prior studies 10,44 we find that moderate temperatures may be more important than extreme temperatures in driving the absolute number of events. Additionally, our results suggest that projected increases in temperature in southern New England may lead to a trade-off in which fewer temperature-related deaths, but more temperature-related emergency department visits are observed.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Projected Changes in Temperature-related Morbidity and Mortality in Southern New England

et al. 2018

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Projected Changes in Temperature-related Morbidity and Mortality in Southern New England

et al. 2018

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“…They found that the temperature-mortality relationship persisted for several days and heat index between 35°C and 38°C was associated with higher mortality during the following three days [41]. Another study evaluated the association between heat index and morbidity and mortality in New England, USA [42]. Their results showed that heat index of 35°C was associated with a cumulative 7.5% (95% CI: 6.5%, 8.5%) higher rate of emergency department visits and death compared to a 5.1% (95% CI: 0.2%, 10.3%) increase when heat index was 24°C [42].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another study evaluated the association between heat index and morbidity and mortality in New England, USA [42]. Their results showed that heat index of 35°C was associated with a cumulative 7.5% (95% CI: 6.5%, 8.5%) higher rate of emergency department visits and death compared to a 5.1% (95% CI: 0.2%, 10.3%) increase when heat index was 24°C [42]. These studies show that the communities in this study face health impacts due to exposure to elevated indoor temperatures, especially during summer when mean heat index exceeded 35°C.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dwelling Characteristics Influence Indoor Temperature and May Pose Health Threats in LMICs

Teare

Mathee

Naicker

et al. 2020

Annals of Global Health

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Introduction Safe housing is a basic human need that contributes to a sense of belonging, ownership, identity, citizenship, and self-sufficiency [1]. Globally, 1.6 billion people live in inadequate housing, of which one billion reside in slums and informal settlements [2]. These settlements may be situated in environmentally unsafe or unhealthy areas, for example, in river flood zones and near industry. Many of the inhabitants who live there, live with little or no tenure for land or dwellings (e.g. rent informally) and typically have no or infrequent supply of basic services. In addition, an important element of safe housing is thermal comfort. Cold and heat extreme temperatures impact human health. In general, people at increased risk of temperature-related illnesses are those with (1) pre-existing health conditions, such as cardiovascular

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“…For example, in some US communities, the temperatures at which heat advisories and excessive heat warnings are issued are based on epidemiologic studies that use exposure data from local weather stations. 23 – 26 In communities where risks are smaller when estimated using station temperatures, alert thresholds set based on studies using weather station measurements may be too low.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of temperature-mortality associations estimated with different exposure metrics

Weinberger

Spangler

Zanobetti

et al. 2019

Environmental Epidemiology

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Background: Studies of the short-term association between ambient temperature and mortality often use temperature observations from a single monitoring station, frequently located at the nearest airport, to represent the exposure of individuals living across large areas. Population-weighted temperature estimates constructed from gridded meteorological data may offer an opportunity to improve exposure assessment in locations where station observations do not fully capture the average exposure of the population of interest. Methods: We compared the association between daily mean temperature and mortality in each of 113 United States counties using (1) temperature observations from a single weather station and (2) population-weighted temperature estimates constructed from a gridded meteorological dataset. We used distributed lag nonlinear models to estimate the 21-day cumulative association between temperature and mortality in each county, 1987–2006, adjusting for seasonal and long-term trends, day of week, and holidays. Results: In the majority (73.4%) of counties, the relative risk of death on extremely hot days (99th percentile of weather station temperature) versus the minimum mortality temperature was larger when generated from the population-weighted estimates. In contrast, relative risks on extremely cold days (first percentile of weather station temperature) were often larger when generated from the weather station observations. In most counties, the difference in associations estimated from the two temperature metrics was small. Conclusions: In a large, multi-site analysis, temperature-mortality associations were largely similar when estimated from weather station observations versus population-weighted temperature estimates. However, spatially refined exposure data may be more appropriate for analyses seeking to elucidate local health effects.

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Heat-related morbidity and mortality in New England: Evidence for local policy

Cited by 46 publications

References 42 publications

Projected Changes in Temperature-related Morbidity and Mortality in Southern New England

Projected Changes in Temperature-related Morbidity and Mortality in Southern New England

Dwelling Characteristics Influence Indoor Temperature and May Pose Health Threats in LMICs

Comparison of temperature-mortality associations estimated with different exposure metrics

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