The impacts of heatwaves on mortality differ with different study periods: a multi-city time series investigation

Wang, Xiao Yu, Guo, Yuming, Fitzgerald, Gerry, Aitken, Peter, Tippett, Vivienne, Chen, Dong, Wang, Xiaoming, and Tong, Shilu (2015) The impacts of heatwaves on mortality differ with different study periods: a multi-city time series investigation. PLoS ONE, 10 (7). e0134233. pp. 1-11.

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Abstract

Background: Different locations and study periods were used in the assessment of the relationships between heatwaves and mortality. However, little is known about the comparability and consistency of the previous effect estimates in the literature. This study assessed the heatwave—mortality relationship using different study periods in the three largest Australian cities (Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney).

Methods: Daily data on climatic variables and mortality for the three cities were obtained from relevant government agencies between 1988 and 2011. A consistent definition of heatwaves was used for these cities. Poisson generalised additive model was fitted to assess the impact of heatwaves on mortality.

Results: Non-accidental and circulatory mortality significantly increased during heatwaves across the three cities even with different heatwave definitions and study periods. Using the summer data resulted in the largest increase in effect estimates compared to those using the warm season or the whole year data.

Conclusion: The findings may have implications for developing standard approaches to evaluating the heatwave-mortality relationship and advancing heat health warning systems. It also provides an impetus to methodological advance for assessing climate change-related health consequences.

Item ID: 41814
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1932-6203
Additional Information:

Copyright: © 2015 Wang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funders: Australian Research Council (ARC), Horticulture Australia (HA), CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship, Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management, Department of Community Safety, Queensland, Queensland Health, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
Projects and Grants: ARC LP882699, HA Nursery Industry Levy Project # NY 11013, NHRMC 553043
Date Deposited: 08 Dec 2015 18:03
FoR Codes: 11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1117 Public Health and Health Services > 111799 Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified @ 100%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9204 Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) > 920407 Health Protection and/or Disaster Response @ 100%
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