Older adults are highly vulnerable to the detriment of extreme weather. The rapid non-linear increase in heat-related morbidity is difficult to quantify, hindering the attribution of direct effects of exposure on severe health outcomes. We examine the effects of ambient temperatures on heat-related hospitalizations (HH) among the elderly in presence of strong seasonality and by assessing the ef...

BACKGROUND This study attempted to develop health risk-based metrics for defining a heatwave in Brisbane, Australia. METHODS Poisson generalised additive model was performed to assess the impact of heatwaves on mortality and emergency hospital admissions (EHAs) in Brisbane. RESULTS In general, the higher the intensity and the longer the duration of a heatwave, the greater the health impacts...

OBJECTIVES The objective of the study was to analyse the association between the presence of air conditioning in hospital wards and the intrahospital mortality during the 2003 heatwave, in mainland Portugal. METHODS Historical cohort study design including all patients aged 45 or more who were hospitalised in the 7 days before the heatwave. The outcome was survival during the 18 days the heat...

We investigated the impact of a moderate heatwave on a range of presenting morbidities in England. Asthma, difficulty breathing, cerebrovascular accident, and cardiovascular symptoms were analysed using general practitioner in hours (GPIH), out of hours (GPOOH) and emergency department (ED) syndromic surveillance systems. Data were stratified by age group and compared between a heatwave year (2...

BACKGROUND Numerous studies have investigated mortality during a heatwave, while few have quantified heat associated morbidity. Our aim was to investigate the relationship between hospital admissions and intensity, duration and timing of heatwave across the summer months. METHODS The study area (Veneto Region, Italy) holds 4577408 inhabitants (on January 1st, 2003), and is subdivided in seven...

BACKGROUND The burden of heat illness on health systems is not well described in the UK. Although the UK generally experiences mild summers, the frequency and intensity of hot weather is likely to increase due to climate change, particularly in Southern England. We investigated the impact of the moderate heatwave in 2013 on primary care and emergency department (ED) visits using syndromic surve...

Heatwaves represent a significant natural hazard in Australia, arguably more hazardous to human life than bushfires, tropical cyclones and floods. In the 2008/2009 summer, for example, many more lives were lost to heatwaves than to that summer's bushfires which were among the worst in the history of the Australian nation. For many years, these other forms of natural disaster have received much ...

BACKGROUND There is no global definition of a heatwave because local acclimatisation and adaptation influence the impact of extreme heat. Even at a local level there can be multiple heatwave definitions, based on varying temperature levels or time periods. We investigated the relationship between heatwaves and health outcomes using ten different heatwave definitions in Brisbane, Australia. ME...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to describe preparations for extreme hot weather at Victorian public sector residential aged care services for the 2010-11 summer, and to examine the role of the Residential Aged Care Services Heatwave Ready Resource in this process. METHOD Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews of senior staff of Victorian public sector resi...

BACKGROUND A Heat-Health Watch system has been established in England and Wales since 2004 as part of the national heatwave plan following the 2003 European-wide heatwave. One important element of this plan has been the development of a timely mortality surveillance system. This article reports the findings and timeliness of a daily mortality model used to 'nowcast' excess mortality (utilising ...