James Goldie1,2, Lisa Alexander1,2, Sophie C Lewis2,3, Steven Sherwood1,2. 1. Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales. 2. ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, University of New South Wales. 3. Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University, Australian Capital Territory.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To find appropriate regression model specifications for counts of the daily hospital admissions of a Sydney cohort and determine which human heat stress indices best improve the models' fit. METHODS: We built parent models of eight daily counts of admission records using weather station observations, census population estimates and public holiday data. We added heat stress indices; models with lower Akaike Information Criterion scores were judged a better fit. RESULTS: Five of the eight parent models demonstrated adequate fit. Daily maximum Simplified Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (sWBGT) consistently improved fit more than most other indices; temperature and heatwave indices also modelled some health outcomes well. Humidity and heat-humidity indices better fit counts of patients who died following admission. CONCLUSIONS: Maximum sWBGT is an ideal measure of heat stress for these types of Sydney hospital admissions. Simple temperature indices are a good fallback where a narrower range of conditions is investigated. Implications for public health: This study confirms the importance of selecting appropriate heat stress indices for modelling. Epidemiologists projecting Sydney hospital admissions should use maximum sWBGT as a common measure of heat stress. Health organisations interested in short-range forecasting may prefer simple temperature indices.
OBJECTIVE: To find appropriate regression model specifications for counts of the daily hospital admissions of a Sydney cohort and determine which human heat stress indices best improve the models' fit. METHODS: We built parent models of eight daily counts of admission records using weather station observations, census population estimates and public holiday data. We added heat stress indices; models with lower Akaike Information Criterion scores were judged a better fit. RESULTS: Five of the eight parent models demonstrated adequate fit. Daily maximum Simplified Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (sWBGT) consistently improved fit more than most other indices; temperature and heatwave indices also modelled some health outcomes well. Humidity and heat-humidity indices better fit counts of patients who died following admission. CONCLUSIONS: Maximum sWBGT is an ideal measure of heat stress for these types of Sydney hospital admissions. Simple temperature indices are a good fallback where a narrower range of conditions is investigated. Implications for public health: This study confirms the importance of selecting appropriate heat stress indices for modelling. Epidemiologists projecting Sydney hospital admissions should use maximum sWBGT as a common measure of heat stress. Health organisations interested in short-range forecasting may prefer simple temperature indices.
Authors: James Goldie; Lisa Alexander; Sophie C Lewis; Steven C Sherwood; Hilary Bambrick Journal: Int J Biometeorol Date: 2017-09-30 Impact factor: 3.787
Authors: Matthew Borg; Monika Nitschke; Susan Williams; Stephen McDonald; John Nairn; Peng Bi Journal: Int J Biometeorol Date: 2019-01-28 Impact factor: 3.787