A Comprehensive Evaluation of the Burden of Heat-Related Illness and Death within the Florida Population
Public Deposited- Creator
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Morano, Laurel Harduar
- Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Epidemiology
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Watkins, Sharon
- Other Affiliation: Pennsylvania Department of Health; Bureau of Epidemiology
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Kintziger, Kristina
- Other Affiliation: Florida Department of Health; Public Health Research Unit
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Morano, Laurel Harduar
- Abstract
- The failure of the human body to thermoregulate can lead to severe outcomes (e.g., death) and lasting physiological damage. However, heat-related illness (HRI) is highly preventable via individual- and community-level modification. A thorough understanding of the burden is necessary for effective intervention. This paper describes the burden of severe HRI morbidity and mortality among residents of a humid subtropical climate. Work-related and non-work-related HRI emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, and deaths among Florida residents during May to October (2005–2012) were examined. Sub-groups susceptible to HRI were identified. The age-adjusted rates/100,000 person-years for non-work-related HRI were 33.1 ED visits, 5.9 hospitalizations, and 0.2 deaths, while for work-related HRI/100,000 worker-years there were 8.5 ED visits, 1.1 hospitalizations, and 0.1 deaths. The rates of HRI varied by county, data source, and work-related status, with the highest rates observed in the panhandle and south central Florida. The sub-groups with the highest relative rates regardless of data source or work-relatedness were males, minorities, and rural residents. Those aged 15–35 years had the highest ED visit rates, while for non-work-related hospitalizations and deaths the rates increased with age. The results of this study can be used for targeted interventions and evaluating changes in the HRI burden over time.
- Date of publication
- 2016
- Keyword
- Adult
- Hospitalization
- subtropical
- Florida
- Heating
- Adolescent
- surveillance
- Child, Preschool
- heat
- Child
- Middle Aged
- Body Temperature Regulation
- mortality
- Heat Stress Disorders
- Morbidity
- Humans
- Emergency Service, Hospital
- Minority Groups
- Male
- Aged, 80 and over
- morbidity
- occupational
- Cost of Illness
- Female
- Population Surveillance
- Aged
- DOI
- Identifier
- PMID: 27258296
- Onescience id: 32e60f0377676d6ab45e1e5923a4c3fe04c1ea4b
- PMCID: PMC4924008
- Publisher DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13060551
- Resource type
- Article
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Journal title
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Journal volume
- 13
- Journal issue
- 6
- Page start
- 551
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1661-7827
- 1660-4601
Relations
- Parents:
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