scholarly journals Excess Risk of Mortality Due to Heatwaves in Dezful city, Southwest of Iran

Author(s):  
Hamidreza Aghababaeian ◽  
Abbas Ostadtaghizadeh ◽  
Ali Ardalan ◽  
Ali Asgary ◽  
Mehry Akbary ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Recent studies show that heatwaves pose risks to human health. Iran is exposed to heatwaves, but the evidence for the health impact of heatwaves is scarce. We aimed to evaluate the impact of heatwaves on daily deaths from non-accidental, cardiovascular, and respiratory in the city of Dezful in Iran from 2013 to 2019.Method: We collected daily ambient temperature and mortality and defined two types of heatwaves by combining daily temperature ³90thin each month of the study period or since 30 years with duration ³2 and 3 days. We used a distributed lag non-linear model to investigate the association between each type of heatwave definition and deaths from non-accidental, cardiovascular, and respiratory with lags up to 13 days.Results: Heat waves of both definitions were associated with a higher risk of non-accidental mortality. The association between heat waves and mortality appeared acutely and lasted for 3 and 4 days. The main effect and added effect are more pronounced among male and older adults than their counterparts. We found no evidence of an association of cardiovascular and respiratory deaths with heat waves.Conclusion: Dezful is a city with a hot climate. However, the results showed that heatwaves could have detrimental effects on health, even in populations accustomed to the extreme heat. Therefore, early warning systems which monitor heat waves should provide the necessary warnings to all exposed groups, especially the elderly and the male groups.

Author(s):  
Jiangtao Liu ◽  
Yueling Ma ◽  
Yuhong Wang ◽  
Sheng Li ◽  
Shuyu Liu ◽  
...  

Cold spells and heat waves in a changing climate are well known as great public-health concerns due to their adverse effects on human health. However, very few studies have quantified health impacts of heat and cold in the region of Northwestern China. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of cold and heat on years of life lost (YLL) in Lanzhou, a city with temperate continental climate. We compiled a daily dataset including deaths, weather variables, and air pollutants in Lanzhou, China, from 2014–2017. We used a distributed lag non-linear model to estimate single-day and cumulative effects of heat and cold on daily YLL. Results indicated that both cold and heat were associated with increased YLL for registered residents in Lanzhou. Estimated heat effects appeared immediately in the first two days, while estimated cold effects lasted over a longer period (up to 30 days). Cold significantly increased the YLL of all residents except for males and those with respiratory diseases (≥65 years). Our results showed that both heat and cold had more pronounced effects on cardiovascular diseases compared to respiratory diseases. Males might be more vulnerable to heat, while females might suffer more YLL from cold. The effects of cold or heat on the elderly might appear earlier and last longer than those for other age groups.


Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
Reija Ruuhela ◽  
Athanasios Votsis ◽  
Jaakko Kukkonen ◽  
Kirsti Jylhä ◽  
Susanna Kankaanpää ◽  
...  

Urbanization and ongoing climate change increase the exposure of the populations to heat stress, and the urban heat island (UHI) effect may magnify heat-related mortality, especially during heatwaves. We studied temperature-related mortality in the city of Helsinki—with urban and suburban land uses—and in the surrounding Helsinki-Uusimaa hospital district (HUS-H, excluding Helsinki)—with more rural types of land uses—in southern Finland for two decades, 2000–2018. Dependence of the risk of daily all-cause deaths (all-age and 75+ years) on daily mean temperature was modelled using the distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM). The modelled relationships were applied in assessing deaths attributable to four intensive heatwaves during the study period. The results showed that the heat-related mortality risk was substantially higher in Helsinki than in HUS-H, and the mortality rates attributable to four intensive heatwaves (2003, 2010, 2014 and 2018) were about 2.5 times higher in Helsinki than in HUS-H. Among the elderly, heat-related risks were also higher in Helsinki, while cold-related risks were higher in the surrounding region. The temperature ranges recorded in the fairly coarse resolution gridded datasets were not distinctly different in the two considered regions. It is therefore probable that the modelling underestimated the actual exposure to the heat stress in Helsinki. We also studied the modifying, short-term impact of air quality on the modelled temperature-mortality association in Helsinki; this effect was found to be small. We discuss a need for higher resolution data and modelling the UHI effect, and regional differences in vulnerability to thermal stress.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 154
Author(s):  
Lidia Domínguez-Parraga

This study aims to analyze the consequences of the gentrification process as a result of tourism on the elderly inhabitants. Firstly, the concept of gentrification is reviewed, a process that is no longer exclusive to large cities but has spread to smaller and lesser-known municipalities. A clear example of this type of new tourist destination is the city of Cáceres, a World Heritage medium-sized city where tourism is the basis of its economy. The research considers gentrification in medium-sized cities and its effect on active aging. Based on a qualitative methodological approach, a total of 32 in-depth interviews were conducted and analyzed to compare two neighborhoods—one gentrified and one not. The results show a remarkable disparity in the residents’ perceptions of their environment and their city. The findings suggest adverse effects on the quality of aging due to the gentrification process, such as family dependency, social-space disconnection, and a generally pessimistic image of the neighborhood. Consequently, the impact of tourism negatively affects the gentrified neighborhood inhabitants’ psychological, social, and emotional well-being.


Author(s):  
Ling-Shuang Lv ◽  
Dong-Hui Jin ◽  
Wen-Jun Ma ◽  
Tao Liu ◽  
Yi-Qing Xu ◽  
...  

The ambient temperature–health relationship is of growing interest as the climate changes. Previous studies have examined the association between ambient temperature and mortality or morbidity, however, there is little literature available on the ambient temperature effects on year of life lost (YLL). Thus, we aimed to quantify the YLL attributable to non-optimum ambient temperature. We obtained data from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2017 of 70 counties in Hunan, China. In order to combine the effects of each county, we used YLL rate as a health outcome indicator. The YLL rate was equal to the total YLL divided by the population of each county, and multiplied by 100,000. We estimated the associations between ambient temperature and YLL with a distributed lag non-linear model (DNLM) in a single county, and then pooled them in a multivariate meta-regression. The daily mean YLL rates were 22.62 y/(p·100,000), 10.14 y/(p·100,000) and 2.33 y/(p·100,000) within the study period for non-accidental, cardiovascular, and respiratory disease death. Ambient temperature was responsible for advancing a substantial fraction of YLL, with attributable fractions of 10.73% (4.36–17.09%) and 16.44% (9.09–23.79%) for non-accidental and cardiovascular disease death, respectively. However, the ambient temperature effect was not significantly for respiratory disease death, corresponding to 5.47% (−2.65–13.60%). Most of the YLL burden was caused by a cold temperature than the optimum temperature, with an overall estimate of 10.27% (4.52–16.03%) and 15.94% (8.82–23.05%) for non-accidental and cardiovascular disease death, respectively. Cold and heat temperature-related YLLs were higher in the elderly and females than the young and males. Extreme cold temperature had an effect on all age groups in different kinds of disease-caused death. This study highlights that general preventative measures could be important for moderate temperatures, whereas quick and effective measures should be provided for extreme temperatures.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 5097-5101

Industrial pollution and urbanization is a major threat to the water environment.The advent of urbanization and industrialization for economic growth has adversely affected the biological diversity. Lake water quality deterioration has been evident in the lakes surrounding the city of Coimbatore. The growth of industries in the city has led to the increase of population day by day in the city The present study is mainly aimed at studying the nature and impact of water pollution in the sub basins of noyyal river basin in coimbatore-sulur subwatershed which has a major impact on the Environment, Health and Socio-Economic status. To understand the magnitude of the impact, water samples were collected in and around the Coimbatore city namely Sulur lake, Singanallur lake, Valankulam, Ukkadam lake and Noyyal river stream which falls in Coimbatore-Sulur subwatershed and analyzed for physical, chemical and bacterial characteristics. The study showed that the chemical characteristics were relatively higher (TDS-957mg/l), (Cl-439.58mg/l), (NO3 -56.28mg/l) than the Bureau of Indian Standard acceptable limits and the presence of Escherichia Coli(60cfu/100ml) and Total Coliform(400cfu/100ml) are menacing in all the water samples leading to major health impact in human beings and also the quality of water is deteriorated.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jusheng Shieh ◽  
Xinpeng Xu ◽  
Hua You ◽  
Qifeng Wu

Abstract Background: Catastrophic Medical Insurance (CMI) has been piloted in China Since 2012 and gradually implemented in various regions. Most studies focus on its impact on medical economic risks, and few studies discussed the impact of CMI on health of the elderly.Methods: This study used Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) data to explore the impact of CMI on health of the elderly. Difference-in-differences (DID) and Propensity score matching-DID were employed to study the health impact of CMI. Heckman selection model was used to study the potential mechanisms.Results: We found that the implementation of CMI improved the mental health of the elderly, and the effect was limited. Moreover, the positive effect of CMI on the health of the elderly was mainly in the high-income group, and CMI had no significant effect on any health indicators of the low-income group population. The potential channel of CMI health improvement was its ability to increase hospitalization rate in the elderly. Conclusions: Therefore, the health promotion and equity of CMI deserve more attention, and the compensation level of CMI needs to be improved under the premise of sustainable and effective supervision of the fund.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Rouges ◽  
Laura Ferranti ◽  
Holger Kantz ◽  
Florian Pappenberger

<p>                Heat waves have important impacts on society and our environment. In Europe for instance, the summer of 2003 caused upwards of 40000 fatalities. They also impact the crop production, ecosystems, and infrastructures. In a warming climate, heat wave intensity and frequency are likely to increase with potentially more dramatic consequences.</p><p>                Considering this, it is crucial to forecast such extreme events and therefore gain a better understanding of their triggering processes. The determination of these processes requires to identify heat wave patterns (timing and location) together with the correlated large-scale circulation patterns. This will enable to devise early warning systems, that could help mitigate the impact.</p><p>                This work is part of an ongoing PhD project focusing on improving the forecast of heat waves at sub-seasonal time scale. The main objectives are to evaluate the link between large scale weather patterns and severe warm events over Europe and measure current level of predictive skill. The first part will focus on defining an objective criteria to identify heat wave events in the ERA5 reanalaysis dataset from ECMWF. The identification of heat waves depends on three main criteria: temperature threshold, spatial and temporal extension. Meaning that the temperature should exceed a defined threshold over a large enough region and for a long enough period. We will consider daily means as well as maximum and minimum values of 2m temperature. We will identify the circulation patterns (persistent high pressure systems) associated with heat wave events and analyse the key differences with persistent high pressure systems that are not associated with heat waves.</p><p>                <strong>This work is part of the Climate Advanced Forecasting of sub-seasonal Extremes (CAFE) project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grand agreement No 813844</strong>.</p>


2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renate van Iersel ◽  
Peng Bi

Heat waves with extreme temperatures are increasingly being recognised as an important public health problem, together with a need to develop appropriate public health interventions. Although heat waves cannot be prevented, their harmful health consequences can be reduced by the development and implementation of early warning systems that target vulnerable regions and populations. This is particularly important for Australian society, given its ageing population structure and vulnerable characteristics of ageing people. It is crucial that a heat health warning system (HHWS) for an ageing population be based on accurate information about the location of vulnerable people, their access to communication technology, the facilities available to them and their ability to respond effectively to a HHWS. This accurate information is critical for the development and implementation of such a system. More importantly, the right stakeholders should be identified, and public’s perception and knowledge about heat waves should be evaluated.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 233372142093243
Author(s):  
Alison Millyard ◽  
Joe D. Layden ◽  
David B. Pyne ◽  
Andrew M. Edwards ◽  
Saul R. Bloxham

Heat waves represent a public health risk to elderly people, and typically result in an increased rate of hospital admissions and deaths. Studies of thermoregulation in this cohort have generally focused on single elements such as sweating capacity. Sweating capacity and skin blood flow reduce with age, reducing ability to dissipate heat. Perception of effort during heat exposure is emerging as an area that needs further investigation as the elderly appear to lack the ability to adequately perceive increased physiological strain during heat exposure. The role of the gut and endotoxemia in heat stress has received attention in young adults, while the elderly population has been neglected. This shortcoming offers another potential avenue for identifying effective integrated health interventions to reduce heat illnesses. Increasing numbers of elderly individuals in populations worldwide are likely to increase the incidence of heat wave-induced deaths if adequate interventions are not developed, evaluated, and implemented. In this narrative-style review we identify and discuss health-related interventions for reducing the impact of heat illnesses in the elderly.


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