Heat-Related Mortality in Two Regions of Poland: Focus on Urban and Rural Areas during the Most Severe and Long-Lasting Heatwaves

Abstract

The vast majority of studies on heat-related mortality are focused on large cities. The aim of this study is to fill this research gap and to estimate the impact of high temperatures on the risk of death in smaller towns and villages. The results show that increased mortality is not only a problem in large cities. The risk of death, although usually slightly lower than in highly populated areas, may be higher for the age-related risk group. At temperatures above 35 °C, it may exceed 1.3 in smaller towns and even 1.6 in villages. The increase in mortality during five selected heat waves of high intensity and long duration was also studied for two regions of Poland: Małopolska and Wielkopolska. Towns with a population of less than 10,000 in Małopolska region, during the 2006 heatwave, experienced an increase in the number of deaths by as much as 18%. At the same time in the largest city of Małopolska-Kraków, the death toll rose by 4%. This paper also presents some differences between regions in terms of the impact of heat waves: in the lowland region of Wielkopolska, the mortality rate is generally higher than in the upland region of Małopolska.

Urban–rural differences in mortality during the 2010 heatwave in European Russia

“…Moreover, the size of a settlement, which is an indicator of heat island effects and the level of urbanicity of the local population, has rarely been considered. For instance, while a positive association between city size and increasing heat-related risks was found for two regions of Poland, this relationship was not shown to be consistent across time or territory (Graczyk et al, 2022).…”

“…We found evidence of the influence of urban heat island effects on mortality rates, with a more significant impact being observed in the largest cities with populations exceeding 500,000. A study conducted in Poland (Graczyk et al, 2022) provided a comparable population threshold for heatrelated mortality effects in urban areas.…”

Temporal changes of heat-attributable mortality in Prague, Czech Republic, over 1982-2019

“…Although 30 years has been considered a minimal period for determining trends in climatology, studies analysing mortality time series in Europe rarely reach this time span (cf. Výberči et al, 2018;Ragettli et al, 2017;Vicedo-Cabrera et al, 2018a;Huber et al, 2020;Graczyk et al, 2022). Thanks to long-time collaboration with the Czech National Public Health Institute, we were able to collect a time series of daily mortality in Prague spanning 38 years, making it one of the longest study periods used in studies of this kind (cf.…”

Good weather for a ride (or not?): how weather conditions impact road accidents — a case study from Wielkopolska (Poland)

“…Many studies analyzed high air temperatures concerning in increased mortality among at-risk populations, such as elderly people or people with cardiovascular diseases (Kenney et al 2014;Yin and Wang 2017;Rodrigues et al 2020;2021). This is not only a problem of large agglomerations; also, people living in small towns and villages are under increased risk of mortality during heat waves (Graczyk et al 2022) and other extreme weather events resulting in large losses (Choryński et al 2023). The high air temperature has also influence on the psychotic exacerbation of symptoms for many specific mental and behavioral disorders (Semenza et al 1999;McMichael et al 2006;Wang et al 2014) or even on increasing risk of suicide (Kim et al 2019).…”