Skip Navigation
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Use this QR code to view the newest version of this document
Use this QR code to view the newest version of this document

Your Environment. Your Health.

Publication Detail

Title: Extreme temperatures and mortality: assessing effect modification by personal characteristics and specific cause of death in a multi-city case-only analysis.

Authors: Medina-Ramón, Mercedes; Zanobetti, Antonella; Cavanagh, David Paul; Schwartz, Joel

Published In Environ Health Perspect, (2006 Sep)

Abstract: Extremes of temperature are associated with short-term increases in daily mortality.We set out to identify subpopulations and mortality causes with increased susceptibility to temperature extremes.We conducted a case-only analysis using daily mortality and hourly weather data from 50 U.S. cities for the period 1989-2000, covering a total of 7,789,655 deaths. We used distributions of daily minimum and maximum temperature in each city to define extremely hot days (>/= 99 th percentile) and extremely cold days (</= 1st percentile) , respectively. For each (hypothesized) effect modifier, a city-specific logistic regression model was fitted and an overall estimate calculated in a subsequent meta-analysis.Older subjects [odds ratio (OR) = 1.020 ; 95% confidence interval (CI) , 1.005-1.034], diabetics (OR = 1.035 ; 95% CI, 1.010-1.062) , blacks (OR = 1.037 ; 95% CI, 1.016-1.059) , and those dying outside a hospital (OR = 1.066 ; 95% CI, 1.036-1.098) were more susceptible to extreme heat, with some differences observed between those dying from a cardiovascular disease and other decedents. Cardiovascular deaths (OR = 1.053 ; 95% CI, 1.036-1.070) , and especially cardiac arrest deaths (OR = 1.137 ; 95% CI, 1.051-1.230) , showed a greater relative increase on extremely cold days, whereas the increase in heat-related mortality was marginally higher for those with coexisting atrial fibrillation (OR = 1.059 ; 95% CI, 0.996-1.125) .In this study we identified several subpopulations and mortality causes particularly susceptible to temperature extremes. This knowledge may contribute to establishing health programs that would better protect the vulnerable.

PubMed ID: 16966084 Exiting the NIEHS site

MeSH Terms: No MeSH terms associated with this publication

Back
to Top