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Regional morbidity and mortality during heatwaves in South Australia

International Journal of Biometeorology volume 62, pages 1911–1926 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Heatwaves can be a common occurrence in Australia, and the public health impacts can be severe. Heat warnings and interventions are being adopted widely to reduce the preventable health impacts. This study examines the effects of heatwaves on morbidity and mortality in different climatic regions in the state of South Australia, to inform the targeting of heat warnings according to regional needs. Heatwaves were defined using the excess heat factor (EHF), an index based on mean daily temperature indices that quantifies heatwave severity relative to the local climate. In all regions, there were increases in morbidity (daily rates of ambulance call-outs and heat-related emergency presentations and hospital admissions) on heatwave days compared to non-heatwave days, which increased with heatwave severity. This study demonstrates that a consistent measure for heatwave severity, based on EHF, can be used to underpin public health warnings for climatically diverse areas.

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Acknowledgements and funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of Mr. Graeme Tucker to the design of this study.

This study was supported by the Attorney General’s Department of the Australian Government, under the National Emergency Management Projects Scheme [grant number NP1617-017].

Author information

Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Susan Williams & Peng Bi

  2. South Australian Department for Health and Wellbeing, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Kamalesh Venugopal & Monika Nitschke

  3. South Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    John Nairn & Robert Fawcett

  4. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    John Nairn

  5. South Australian State Emergency Service, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Chris Beattie & Graeme Wynwood

Authors
  1. Susan Williams
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  2. Kamalesh Venugopal
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  3. Monika Nitschke
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  4. John Nairn
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  5. Robert Fawcett
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  6. Chris Beattie
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  7. Graeme Wynwood
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  8. Peng Bi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peng Bi.

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Ethics approval was obtained from the Human Research Ethics Committees of The University of Adelaide and SA Health.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Table 7 Effect estimates (IRRs) for the association between heatwave exposure (low, moderate and high severity) and health outcomes by region in South Australia, for warmer months (October to March), 2000–2016
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Appendix 2

Results from a sensitivity analysis using alternative regional sites for meteorological observations

Fig. 2
figure 2

Map of South Australia showing location of alternate reference sites within regions (circles)

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Table 8 Number of heatwave days (n) and corresponding average daily maximum temperatures (ADMT oC; for 3 day average) by region in South Australia, for warmer months (Oct to Mar), 2000-2016.
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Table 9 Effect estimates (IRRs) for the association between heatwave exposure (low, moderate and high severity) and 3-daily ambulance call-outs by region in South Australia, for warmer months (Oct to Mar), 2000-2016. IRRs for significant pvalues (<0.05) are indicated in bold font
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Table 10 Effect estimates (IRRs) for the associations between heatwave exposure (low, moderate and high severity) and 3-daily hospital admissions (all-cause and heat-related) by region in South Australia, for warmer months (Oct to Mar), 2000-2016. IRRs for significant p-values (<0.05) are indicated in bold font
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Table 11 Effect estimates (IRRs) for the association between heatwave exposure (low, moderate and high severity) and 3-daily emergency presentations (all-cause and heat-related) by region in South Australia, for warm months (Oct to Mar), 2000-2016. IRRs for significant p-values (<0.05) are indicated in bold font
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Table 12 Effect estimates (IRRs) for the associations between heatwave exposure (low, moderate and high severity) and 3-daily mortality by region in South Australia, for warmer months (Oct to Mar), 2000-2016. IRRs for significant p-values (<0.05) are indicated in bold font
Full size table

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Williams, S., Venugopal, K., Nitschke, M. et al. Regional morbidity and mortality during heatwaves in South Australia. Int J Biometeorol 62, 1911–1926 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-018-1593-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-018-1593-4

Keywords

  • Heatwave
  • Morbidity
  • Mortality
  • Public health
  • Heat warnings
  • Regional