Ambulance Attendance in the State of Queensland, Australia: Exploring the Impacts of Heatwaves Using a Retrospective Population-Based Study
King, Jemma C., Mason, Hannah M., Peden, Amy E., Fitzgerald, Gerard, Nairn, John, Mandalios, Nicole, Watt, Kerrianne, Bosley, Emma L., and Franklin, Richard C. (2025) Ambulance Attendance in the State of Queensland, Australia: Exploring the Impacts of Heatwaves Using a Retrospective Population-Based Study. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 40 (3). pp. 147-155.
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Abstract
Objective: This study explores the impact of heatwaves on emergency calls for assistance resulting in service attendance in the Australian state of Queensland for the period from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2019. The study uses data from the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS), a state-wide prehospital health system for emergency health care.
Methods: A retrospective case series using de-identified data from QAS explored spatial and demographic characteristics of patients attended by ambulance and the reason for attendance. All individuals for which there was an emergency call to “000” that resulted in ambulance attendance in Queensland across the ten years were captured. Demand for ambulance services during heatwave and non-heatwave periods were compared. Incidence rate ratio (IRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were constructed exploring ambulance usage patterns during heatwaves and by rurality, climate zone, age groups, sex, and reasons for attendance.
Results: Compared with non-heatwave days, ambulance attendance across Queensland increased by 9.3% during heatwave days. The impact of heatwaves on ambulance demand differed by climate zone (high humidity summer with warm winter; hot dry summer with warm winter; warm humid summer with mild winter). Attendances related to heat exposure, dehydration, alcohol/drug use, and sepsis increased substantially during heatwaves.
Conclusion: Heatwaves are a driver of increased ambulance demand in Queensland. The data raise questions about climatic conditions and heat tolerance, and how future cascading and compounding heat disasters may influence work practices and demands on the ambulance service. Understanding the implications of heatwaves in the prehospital setting is important to inform community, service, and system preparedness.
| Item ID: | 88021 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 1945-1938 |
| Keywords: | ambulance, heatwaves, prehospital, Queensland, transport |
| Copyright Information: | © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited. |
| Date Deposited: | 20 Oct 2025 21:34 |
| FoR Codes: | 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4203 Health services and systems > 420311 Health systems @ 100% |
| SEO Codes: | 28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280112 Expanding knowledge in the health sciences @ 100% |
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