Temporal changes in the effects of ambient temperatures on hospital admissions in Spain

Abstract

Background The exposure to extreme ambient temperatures has been reported to increase mortality, although less is known about its impact on morbidity. The analysis of temporal changes in temperature-health associations has also focused on mortality with no studies on hospitalizations worldwide. Studies on temporal variations can provide insights on changes in susceptibility or on effectiveness of public health interventions. We aimed to analyse the effects of temperature on cause-specific hospital admissions in Spain and assess temporal changes using two periods, the second one characterized by the introduction of a heat health prevention plan. Methods Daily counts of non-scheduled hospital admissions for cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and respiratory diseases and daily maximum temperature were obtained for each Spanish province for the period 1997–2013. The relationship between temperature and hospitalizations was estimated using distributed lag non-linear models. We compared the risk of hospitalization due to temperatures (cold, heat and extreme heat) in two periods (1997–2002 and 2004–2013). Results Cold temperatures were associated with increased risk of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and respiratory hospital admissions. Hot temperatures were only associated with higher hospital admissions for respiratory causes while hospitalizations for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases did not increase with heat. There was a small reduction in heat-related respiratory admissions in period 2. Whereas cold-related hospitalizations for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases increased in period 2, a significant reduction for respiratory hospitalizations was reported. Conclusions Our results suggested that heat had an adverse impact on hospital admissions for respiratory diseases, while cold increased the risk of the three studied cause-specific hospitalizations. Public health interventions should also focus on morbidity effects of temperature.

Temporal trends of the association between ambient temperature and hospitalisations for cardiovascular diseases in Queensland, Australia from 1995 to 2016: A time-stratified case-crossover study

“…In our study, high temperature was not significantly associated with the increased risks of hospitalisations for cardiovascular diseases. The finding was in line with a range of previous research results, including meta-analysis [24,27] and original studies [14,15,28,29].…”

“…The study found a nonsignificant increase in cold-related hospitalisations for cardiovascular diseases and a nonsignificant reduction in heat effect in later period. The temporal variation in these 2 periods showed an opposite trend from our results [15]. That is probably due to different features of climate, human behaviour, and climate change adaptation policies in the 2 study areas.…”

“…Meanwhile, most studies have only focused on temperature-mortality association. Few studies have investigated the temporal trends of temperature-morbidity (e.g., hospitalisation) associations [14][15][16]. Far fewer studies investigated the demographic and geographic characteristics of these temporal trends.…”

Heat, Heatwaves and Cardiorespiratory Hospital Admissions in Helsinki, Finland

“…In our study long heatwaves and more intense heatwaves (95 th percentile cutoff point) were associated with risk of total respiratory and pneumonia hospitalizations only in the oldest age category. These findings are in line with other studies which reported elderly people as the most vulnerable group for respiratory morbidity effects in extreme and long heatwaves (46,47,48). However, with different definitions of heatwaves we also found associations between heatwaves and respiratory health in the age group 18-64.…”

Epidemiology of West Nile Virus Infections in Humans, Italy, 2012–2020: A Summary of Available Evidences

“…However, as the majority of reported cases occurred in provinces characterized by highly developed agricultural settings (e.g., Lodi and Rovigo), and greater urban centers such as Milan and Turin had lower reports for both actual figures and incidence rates, it is reasonable to reaffirm a primary role for suburban and rural settings and activities. Fourth, meteorological data should be assumed as a proxy of the actual exposures: as climate factors including may strikingly fluctuate over a restricted area [ 54 ], assessment of environmental factors based on administrative unit may lack the appropriate definition we need [ 55 , 56 , 57 ]. As we were unable to retrieve georeferentiation data more accurate than the provincial level, such inaccuracies may have been significantly magnified.…”