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Heat-related illness in China, summer of 2013

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Abstract

Extreme heat events have occurred more frequently in China in recent years, leading to serious impacts on human life and the health care system. To identify the characteristics of individuals with heat-related illnesses in China during the summer of 2013, we collected the data from the Heat-related Illness Surveillance System in Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC). A total of 5758 cases were reported in the summer of 2013, mostly concentrated in urban areas around the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. We found a difference in age distribution of percentage of deaths from heat-related illness between males and females. Severe cases in males mostly occurred in the age group 45–74 years but in females mostly in the age group over 75. A distributed lag non-linear model had been used to identify population vulnerabilities in Ningbo and Chongqing. The results show that there was a clear positive relationship between maximum temperature and heat-related illness, and the heat effect was nonlinear and could last for 3 days. The elderly and males in the range of 45–64 years old might be the most vulnerable people of heat-related illness in China. We also highlighted some deficiencies of the surveillance system, such that the reported data were not accurate, comprehensive, or timely enough at this stage.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (Grant No. 2012CB955504).

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China

      Shaohua Gu, Li Bai & Qiyong Liu

    2. School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

      Cunrui Huang

    3. Centre for Environment and Population Health, School of Environment, Griffith University, Nathan, Australia

      Cordia Chu & Qiyong Liu

    4. Shandong University Climate Change and Health Center, Jinan, China

      Qiyong Liu

    Authors
    1. Shaohua Gu
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    2. Cunrui Huang
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    3. Li Bai
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    4. Cordia Chu
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    5. Qiyong Liu
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    Corresponding authors

    Correspondence to Cordia Chu or Qiyong Liu.

    Additional information

    Shaohua Gu and Cunrui Huang contributed equally to this work.

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    Gu, S., Huang, C., Bai, L. et al. Heat-related illness in China, summer of 2013. Int J Biometeorol 60, 131–137 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-015-1011-0

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-015-1011-0

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