Epidemiologic Reviews 24:190-202 (2002)
© 2002 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Relation between Elevated Ambient Temperature and Mortality: A Review of the Epidemiologic Evidence
From the Department of Epidemiology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.
Received for publication July 9, 2002; accepted for publication November 21, 2002.
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
| INTRODUCTION |
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The effect of elevated temperature on mortality is a public health threat of considerable magnitude. Every year, a large number of hospitalizations and deaths occur in association with exposure to elevated ambient temperatures (1, 2). An average of 400 deaths annually are counted as directly related to heat in the United States, with the highest death rates occurring in persons aged 65 years or more (3). The actual magnitude of heat-related mortality may be notably greater than what has been reported, since we do not have widely accepted criteria for determining heat-related death (4, 57), and heat may not be listed on the death certificate as causing or contributing to death. Persons living in urban environments may be at particularly increased risk for mortality from ambient heat exposure, since urban areas typically have higher heat indexes (combinations of temperature and
| REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE |
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| METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES |
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Exposure assessment
Outcome assessment
Statistical modeling
Study designs
Descriptive studies. Time-series studies. Case-crossover studies.
| FINDINGS |
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Studies of heat waves
Demographic factors. Behavioral risk factors. Lag times. Studies of cardiovascular and respiratory disease mortality
Studies of heat-related mortality in medical facilities
Studies of the temperature-mortality relation
Seasonal effects. Threshold effect. Latitude variations. Effect of the relation between air pollutants and temperature on mortality
| SUMMARY AND FUTURE RESEARCH |
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| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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