Review of the book “Extreme Temperatures and Health: How Heat Waves and Cold Snaps Affect Us”

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Revisão do livro “Temperaturas extremas e saúde. Como nos afetam as ondas de calor e de frio”

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Short-term effect of heat waves on hospital admissions in Madrid: Analysis by gender and comparision with previous findings

Global warming affects health through multiple exposures and pathways, in and is turn deeply influenced by climate change. Every year, several million deaths are caused by environmental factors, many of which are aggravated by climate change or its drivers (WHO, 2016). The adverse effects of climate change on health are varied, complex and far-reaching. Essentially, climate change acts as a multiplier for global health threats, compounding many of the health issues communities already face. Disproportionately affect the health of vulnerable groups and people in lower income countries, thus exacerbating inequalities and gender differences (Watts et al., 2018)

Spatial variability in threshold temperatures of heat wave mortality: impact assessment on prevention plans

Spain’s current heat wave prevention plans are activated according to administrative areas. This study analyses the determination of threshold temperatures for triggering prevention-plan activation by reference to isoclimatic areas, and describes the public health benefits. We subdivided the study area – the Madrid Autonomous Region (MAR) – into three, distinct, isoclimatic areas: ‘North’, ‘Central’ and ‘South’, and grouped daily natural-cause mortality (ICD-10: A00-R99) in towns of over 10,000 inhabitants (2000–2009 period) accordingly. Using these three areas rather than the MAR as a whole would have resulted in a possible decrease in mortality of 73 persons (38– 108) in the North area, and in aborting unnecessary activation of the plan 153 times in the Central area and 417 times in the South area. Our results indicate that extrapolating this methodology would bring benefits associated with a reduction in attributable mortality and improved effectiveness of public health interventions.This study was funded by a ‘Miguel Servet type 1’ grant (SEPY 1037/14), as well as a Health Research Fund grant (Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias/FIS Project ENPY1133/16 from the Carlos III Institute of Health

Will there be cold-related mortality in Spain over the 2021–2050 and 2051–2100 time horizons despite the increase in temperatures as a consequence of climate change?

Global warming is resulting in an increase in temperatures which is set to become more marked by the end of the century and depends on the accelerating pace of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Yet even in this scenario, so-called “cold waves” will continue to be generated and have an impact on health. Objectives: This study sought to analyse the impact of cold waves on daily mortality at a provincial level in Spain over the 2021–2050 and 2051–2100 time horizons under RCP4.5 and RCP 8.5 emission scenarios, on the basis of two hypotheses: (1) that the cold-wave definition temperature (T threshold) would not vary over time; and, (2) that there would be a variation in T threshold

The effect of cold waves on mortality in urban and rural areas of Madrid

While many studies analyze the effect of extreme thermal events on health, little has been written about the effects of extreme cold on mortality. This scarcity of papers is particularly relevant when we search studies about extreme cold on the health of rural population. Therefore, we tried to analyze the effect of cold waves on urban areas and rural areas from Madrid and to test whether differentiated effects exist between both population classes. For this purpose, we analyzed data from the municipalities with over 10,000 inhabitants for the period from January 1, 2000 through December 31, 2013. Municipalities were classified as urban or rural (Eurostat), and they were grouped into similar climatological zones: Urban Metropolitan Centre (UMC), Rural Northern Mountains (RNM), Rural Centre (RC) and Southern Rural (SR). The dependent variable was the daily mortality rate due to natural causes per million inhabitants (CIE-X: A00-R99) that occurred between the months of November and March for the period. The independent variable was minimum daily temperature (ºC) (Tmin). Social and demographic contextual variables were used, including: population > age 64 (%), deprivation index and housing indicators. The analysis was carried out in three phases: (1) determination of the threshold temperature (Tthreshold) which defines the cold waves; (2) determination of the relative risk (RR) for cold waves using Poisson linear regression (GLM); and (3) using GLM of the binomial family, Odds Ratios (OR) were calculated to analyze the relationship between the frequency of the appearance of cold waves and the socioeconomic variables.The authors gratefully acknowledge the grants for projects ENPY376/18; ENPY470/19 and ENPY 107/18 from the Carlos III Institute of Health

Posibilidades de mejora en los planes de prevención frente al exceso de temperaturas

En el verano de 2003 las temperaturas alcanzadas fueron responsables de un gran número de muertes en el continente europeo. Un año después muchos países habían implantado algún tipo de plan de prevención frente al exceso de temperaturas. Planes que ya habían mostrado su capacidad de prevenir una buena parte de la mortalidad evitable en otras latitudes. Desde entonces, son numerosos los estudios publicados ofreciendo nuevos datos sobre los efectos en salud pública de una ola de calor, que pueden contribuir a aumentar la eficiencia de estos planes de prevención. Conocer las situaciones meteorológicas de mayor riesgo, definir ola de calor o tener en cuenta el tiempo que el plan debe estar activo a partir del estudio de la relación entre la temperatura y sus efectos en salud, identificar las características meteorológicas que modulan la relación entre la temperatura y la mortalidad, localizar el perfil de las personas de mayor riesgo o diseñar protocolos de actuación con la mayor precisión posible y basado en el conocimiento científico son elementos extraídos de numerosos trabajos realizados en los últimos años que deben ser tenidos en cuenta.S

Umbrales de definición de ola de frío e impacto sobre la mortalidad en España. Necesidad de Planes de prevención

Ponencia presentada en: XXXIV Jornadas Científicas de la AME y el XVII Encuentro Hispano Luso de Meteorología celebrado en Teruel, del 29 de febrero al 2 de marzo de 2016

Determinación de umbrales de definición de ola de calor e impacto sobre la mortalidad en España

Ponencia presentada en: XXXIV Jornadas Científicas de la AME y el XVII Encuentro Hispano Luso de Meteorología celebrado en Teruel, del 29 de febrero al 2 de marzo de 2016

Temperaturas umbrales de disparo de la mortalidad atribuible al frío en España en el periodo 2000-2009. Comparación con la mortalidad atribuible al calor

El objetivo que se plantea en este informe consiste en determinar para cada capital de provincia española cuál es la temperatura mínima diaria a partir de la cual existe un incremento significativo de la mortalidad asociada al frío; cuáles son los riesgos relativos y atribuibles asociados y como se distribuyen geográficamente. Este análisis se extenderá, no sólo a los incrementos de la mortalidad diaria asociados al frío por causas naturales, sino también a la mortalidad por causas circulatorias y respiratorias. Además de realizar un estudio comparativo de cuál ha sido la mortalidad atribuible a las olas de calor y a las olas de frío en 52 provincias españolas durante el periodo 2000-2009 y realizar una estimación del coste económico asociado a las olas de calor y de frío con el objeto de mostrar la rentabilidad de la implementación de los Planes de Prevención ante las bajas temperaturas