Overall, the impact of heat wave on mortality was higher in the older age group; moreover, females and unmarried subjects resulted to be more susceptible to heat waves effects.
While PM2.5 was found to have no effect on the association between apparent temperature and emergency department visit [ 19], the effect of heat wave on mortality was found to be higher on high ozone and PM10 days [ 38].
To estimate future excess mortality, we assumed the same non heat wave rate of mortality as the 1987–2005 period and projected population growth using the B1, A1, and A2 age-stratified population estimates from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) for the 2081 2100 period (Lutz 1996).
This study is the first to examine health impact of the 2011 heat wave on mortality and ED visits.
This study used consistent methods to model the effects of an exceptional heat wave on mortality and ED visits.
Our findings provide supportive evidence of the impact of heat waves on mortality and have implications for policy makers to reduce the burden of heat wave mortality.
We evaluated the effect of heat waves on mortality in five subgroups of susceptible, chronically ill individuals aged 50 years and older diagnosed with congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, or psychiatric disorders as well as survivors of MI in the two cities.
A recently published study [ 18] using data from 1994 2007 for four Taiwanese cities, including Taipei, found no additional effect of cold waves on mortality once the effects of individual cold temperature days, with lags up to 30 days, were accounted for.
The inclusion of the most recent years was to account for the possible changes in the spectrum of susceptibility factors, as well as changes in the impact of heat waves on mortality due to the effect of the heat prevention plan.
A study of nine European cities reported heterogeneity among city-specific estimates of the impact of heat waves on mortality, with the highest estimated impact in Mediterranean cities that experience more frequent and higher temperature heat waves than did cities in northern Europe (D'Ippoliti et al. 2010).
