Journal of Earth Science & Climatic Change
Open Access

Abstract

People over 65 years and those with certain underlying health conditions are considered particularly susceptible to extreme temperatures, but heat has a particularly important effect in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and pregnant women, causing premature births (PTB). We analyzed and quantified the short-term effect of high temperatures during heat waves in Madrid on daily mortality and PD-related hospital admissions and PTB during 2001-2009. We used an ecological time-series design and fitted Poisson regression models. We analyzed the daily number of deaths due to PD and the number of daily PDrelated emergency hospital admissions and PTB in Madrid, using maximum daily temperature (�?ºC) and chemical air pollution as covariates. We controlled for trend, seasonalities, and autoregressive nature. There was a maximum daily temperature of 30 �?°C at which PD-related admissions were at a minimum. Similarly, a temperature of 34�?°C coincides with an increase in the number of admissions. For PD-related admissions, the Relative Risk (RR) for every increase of 1�?°C above the threshold temperature was 1.13 IC95% (1.03-1.23) at lags 1 and 5; and for daily PD-related mortality, the RR was 1.14 IC95% (1.0-1.28) at lag 3. Furthermore, we observed evidence of a short term effect at Lag 1, RR: 1.055 IC95% (1.018 1.092) on preterm births during the studied period. Our results indicate that suffering from PD is a risk factor that contributes to the excess morbimortality associated with high temperatures, so heat waves are associated with PTB and is relevant from the standpoint of public health prevention plans.

Biography

Email: clinares@isciii.es