Temperature as a risk factor for hospitalisations among young children in the Mekong Delta area, Vietnam

Abstract

Temperature was found to be significantly associated with hospital admissions in young children with the highest association between temperature and gastrointestinal infection. The government agencies of Mekong Delta should implement measures to protect children from the changing temperature conditions related to climate change.

The effects of high temperature on cardiovascular admissions in the most populous tropical city in Vietnam

“…Another study (Xuan et al, 2014a) investigated the association between temperature and mortality in Hanoi, the city in northern Vietnam, but this study did not examine the cause-specific mortality and found a relationship between mortality and cold weather but not with hot weather. Some other published studies (Phung et al, 2015b;Xuan et al, 2014b;Phung et al 2015a) have focused on the relationship between meteorological factors and water-and vector-borne diseases but not non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases.…”

Evaluating the effects of atmospheric environment on children’s health in Hanoi, Vietnam

“…Significantly associations between ambient temperature and hospital admission for dehydration, intestinal infectious diseases and hands, foot, and mouth among children were also reported in previous studies (84, 85). Although ambient temperature can cause adverse health effects on children, there are few studies about effects of ambient temperature in children's health have been conducted so far, especially in developing countries (91,92).…”

“…To date, few studies have been conducted on the effects of ambient air environment on adverse health effects, particularly on children, in Vietnam. When this research project was started, there was only one study on the relationship between exposure to air pollution and respiratory diseases in children (102) and two studies examining the effects of temperature on children health in Vietnam (92,103). All of those studies were conducted in the South of Vietnam where the climate and air environment are different to the North.…”

“…The health effects of fine particles (PM2.5 and PM1) were not examined in that study. Phung et al (92) reported that temperature was positively associated with the risk of hospitalisation for respiratory infection, and Thompson et al (103) found that temperature was negatively associated with the rate of diarrheal hospitalisation among children in the South of Vietnam. Due to the difference in the atmospheric environment between regions in Vietnam, it is important to study temperature effects in the North to obtain evidence for public health protection policy.…”

“…There have been some previous studies in Vietnam reporting an increased risk of hospital admissions for respiratory diseases among children aged < 5 years old due to tobacco smoke exposure (199), termination of breast feeding in early infancy (200), ambient air pollution and temperature changes (18,92,102). Suzuki et al (2009) (199) reported a significantly association between environmental tobacco smoking exposure (ETS) and…”