IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v12y2015i12p14988-15365d59902.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Differential Effects of Temperature Extremes on Hospital Admission Rates for Respiratory Disease between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory

Author

Listed:
  • Donna Green

    (Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
    ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia)

  • Hilary Bambrick

    (Centre for Health Research, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Sydney 2150, Australia)

  • Peter Tait

    (Public Health Association of Australia, Canberra 2605, Australia)

  • James Goldie

    (Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
    ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia)

  • Rosalie Schultz

    (Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
    ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia)

  • Leanne Webb

    (Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia)

  • Lisa Alexander

    (Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
    ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia)

  • Andrew Pitman

    (Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
    ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia)

Abstract

The health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians may be exacerbated by climate change if temperature extremes have disproportionate adverse effects on Indigenous people. To explore this issue, we analysed the effect of temperature extremes on hospital admissions for respiratory diseases, stratified by age, Indigenous status and sex, for people living in two different climates zones in the Northern Territory during the period 1993–2011. We examined admissions for both acute and chronic respiratory diagnoses, controlling for day of the week and seasonality variables. Our analysis showed that: (1) overall, Indigenous hospital admission rates far exceeded non-Indigenous admission rates for acute and chronic diagnoses, and Top End climate zone admission rates exceeded Central Australia climate zone admission rates; (2) extreme cold and hot temperatures were associated with inconsistent changes in admission rates for acute respiratory disease in Indigenous and non-Indigenous children and older adults; and (3) no response to cold or hot temperature extremes was found for chronic respiratory diagnoses. These findings support our two hypotheses, that extreme hot and cold temperatures have a different effect on hospitalisations for respiratory disease between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, and that these health risks vary between the different climate zones. We did not, however, find that there were differing responses to temperature extremes in the two populations, suggesting that any increased vulnerability to climate change in the Indigenous population of the Northern Territory arises from an increased underlying risk to respiratory disease and an already greater existing health burden.

Suggested Citation

  • Donna Green & Hilary Bambrick & Peter Tait & James Goldie & Rosalie Schultz & Leanne Webb & Lisa Alexander & Andrew Pitman, 2015. "Differential Effects of Temperature Extremes on Hospital Admission Rates for Respiratory Disease between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-14, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:12:y:2015:i:12:p:14988-15365:d:59902
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/12/14988/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/12/14988/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ford, J.D., 2012. "Indigenous health and climate change," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 102(7), pages 1260-1266.
    2. Elizabeth G. Hanna & Peter W. Tait, 2015. "Limitations to Thermoregulation and Acclimatization Challenge Human Adaptation to Global Warming," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-41, July.
    3. Ching-Min Tseng & Yung-Tai Chen & Shuo-Ming Ou & Yi-Han Hsiao & Szu-Yuan Li & Shuu-Jiun Wang & Albert C Yang & Tzeng-Ji Chen & Diahn-Warng Perng, 2013. "The Effect of Cold Temperature on Increased Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Nationwide Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(3), pages 1-7, March.
    4. Jonathan A. Patz & Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum & Tracey Holloway & Jonathan A. Foley, 2005. "Impact of regional climate change on human health," Nature, Nature, vol. 438(7066), pages 310-317, November.
    5. Rochelle Green & Rupa Basu & Brian Malig & Rachel Broadwin & Janice Kim & Bart Ostro, 2010. "The effect of temperature on hospital admissions in nine California counties," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 55(2), pages 113-121, April.
    6. Simon Gosling & Jason Lowe & Glenn McGregor & Mark Pelling & Bruce Malamud, 2009. "Associations between elevated atmospheric temperature and human mortality: a critical review of the literature," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 92(3), pages 299-341, February.
    7. Leanne Webb & Hilary Bambrick & Peter Tait & Donna Green & Lisa Alexander, 2014. "Effect of Ambient Temperature on Australian Northern Territory Public Hospital Admissions for Cardiovascular Disease among Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Populations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-18, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xuemei Su & Yibin Cheng & Yu Wang & Yue Liu & Na Li & Yonghong Li & Xiaoyuan Yao, 2019. "Regional Temperature-Sensitive Diseases and Attributable Fractions in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-15, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xunfeng Yang & Lianfa Li & Jinfeng Wang & Jixia Huang & Shijun Lu, 2015. "Cardiovascular Mortality Associated with Low and High Temperatures: Determinants of Inter-Region Vulnerability in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-16, May.
    2. Zhiwei Xu & Perry E. Sheffield & Wenbiao Hu & Hong Su & Weiwei Yu & Xin Qi & Shilu Tong, 2012. "Climate Change and Children’s Health—A Call for Research on What Works to Protect Children," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-19, September.
    3. Sitong Yang & Shouwei Li & Xue Rui & Tianxiang Zhao, 2024. "The impact of climate risk on the asset side and liability side of the insurance industry: evidence from China," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1-51, June.
    4. Robert E. Davis & Wendy M. Novicoff, 2018. "The Impact of Heat Waves on Emergency Department Admissions in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.A," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-16, July.
    5. Kaila-Lea Clarke & Peter Berry, 2012. "From theory to practice: a Canadian case study of the utility of climate change adaptation frameworks to address health impacts," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 57(1), pages 167-174, February.
    6. Tahseen Ajaz & Muhammad Tariq Majeed, 2018. "Changing Climate Patterns and Women Health: An Empirical Analysis of District Rawalpindi Pakistan," Global Social Sciences Review, Humanity Only, vol. 3(4), pages 320-342, December.
    7. Molini, A. & Talkner, P. & Katul, G.G. & Porporato, A., 2011. "First passage time statistics of Brownian motion with purely time dependent drift and diffusion," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 390(11), pages 1841-1852.
    8. Denis Maragno & Michele Dalla Fontana & Francesco Musco, 2020. "Mapping Heat Stress Vulnerability and Risk Assessment at the Neighborhood Scale to Drive Urban Adaptation Planning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-16, February.
    9. Bing Li & Zhifeng Liu & Ying Nan & Shengnan Li & Yanmin Yang, 2018. "Comparative Analysis of Urban Heat Island Intensities in Chinese, Russian, and DPRK Regions across the Transnational Urban Agglomeration of the Tumen River in Northeast Asia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-16, July.
    10. Xi Chen & Chih Ming Tan & Xiaobo Zhang & Xin Zhang, 2020. "The effects of prenatal exposure to temperature extremes on birth outcomes: the case of China," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 1263-1302, October.
    11. Kingsley Katleho Mokoena & Crystal Jane Ethan & Yan Yu & Asenso Theophilus Quachie, 2020. "Interaction Effects of Air Pollution and Climatic Factors on Circulatory and Respiratory Mortality in Xi’an, China between 2014 and 2016," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-15, December.
    12. Michael Tong & Berhanu Wondmagegn & Jianjun Xiang & Alana Hansen & Keith Dear & Dino Pisaniello & Blesson Varghese & Jianguo Xiao & Le Jian & Benjamin Scalley & Monika Nitschke & John Nairn & Hilary B, 2022. "Hospitalization Costs of Respiratory Diseases Attributable to Temperature in Australia and Projections for Future Costs in the 2030s and 2050s under Climate Change," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-16, August.
    13. Giorgia Silvestri & Julia M. Wittmayer & Karlijn Schipper & Robinah Kulabako & Sampson Oduro-Kwarteng & Philip Nyenje & Hans Komakech & Roel Van Raak, 2018. "Transition Management for Improving the Sustainability of WASH Services in Informal Settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa—An Exploration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.
    14. Nicolas Taconet & Aurélie Méjean & Céline Guivarch, 2020. "Influence of climate change impacts and mitigation costs on inequality between countries," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 15-34, May.
    15. Jaewon Kwak & Huiseong Noh & Soojun Kim & Vijay P. Singh & Seung Jin Hong & Duckgil Kim & Keonhaeng Lee & Narae Kang & Hung Soo Kim, 2014. "Future Climate Data from RCP 4.5 and Occurrence of Malaria in Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-19, October.
    16. Fritz, Manuela, 2021. "Temperature and non-communicable diseases: Evidence from Indonesia's primary health care system," Passauer Diskussionspapiere, Volkswirtschaftliche Reihe V-84-21, University of Passau, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    17. Mariani, Fabio & Pérez-Barahona, Agustín & Raffin, Natacha, 2010. "Life expectancy and the environment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 798-815, April.
    18. Huizhao Yang & Sailesh Ranjitkar & Deli Zhai & Micai Zhong & Stefanie Daniela Goldberg & Muhammad Asad Salim & Zhenghong Wang & Yi Jiang & Jianchu Xu, 2019. "Role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Seasonal Calendars in the Context of Climate Change: A Case Study from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-22, June.
    19. Louise Bedsworth, 2012. "California’s local health agencies and the state’s climate adaptation strategy," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 111(1), pages 119-133, March.
    20. Menconi, M.E. & Giordano, S. & Grohmann, D., 2022. "Revisiting global food production and consumption patterns by developing resilient food systems for local communities," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:12:y:2015:i:12:p:14988-15365:d:59902. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.