IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v14y2017i8p944-d109192.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Biometeorological Assessment of Mortality Related to Extreme Temperatures in Helsinki Region, Finland, 1972–2014

Author

Listed:
  • Reija Ruuhela

    (Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland)

  • Kirsti Jylhä

    (Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland)

  • Timo Lanki

    (National Institute for Health and Welfare, P.O. Box 95, FI-70701 Kuopio, Finland)

  • Pekka Tiittanen

    (National Institute for Health and Welfare, P.O. Box 95, FI-70701 Kuopio, Finland)

  • Andreas Matzarakis

    (Research Center Human Biometeorology, German Meteorological Service, Stefan-Meier-Str. 4, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany)

Abstract

Climate change is expected to increase heat-related and decrease cold-related mortality. The extent of acclimatization of the population to gradually-changing thermal conditions is not well understood. We aimed to define the relationship between mortality and temperature extremes in different age groups in the Helsinki-Uusimaa hospital district in Southern Finland, and changes in sensitivity of the population to temperature extremes over the period of 1972–2014. Time series of mortality were made stationary with a method that utilizes 365-day Gaussian smoothing, removes trends and seasonality, and gives relative mortality as the result. We used generalized additive models to examine the association of relative mortality to physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) and to air temperature in the 43-year study period and in two 21-year long sub-periods (1972–1992 and 1994–2014). We calculated the mean values of relative mortality in percentile-based categories of thermal indices. Relative mortality increases more in the hot than in the cold tail of the thermal distribution. The increase is strongest among those aged 75 years and older, but is somewhat elevated even among those younger than 65 years. Above the 99th percentile of the PET distribution, the all-aged relative mortality decreased in time from 18.3 to 8.6%. Among those ≥75 years old, the decrease in relative mortality between the sub-periods were found to be above the 90th percentile. The dependence of relative mortality on cold extremes was negligible, except among those ≥75 years old, in the latter period. Thus, heat-related mortality is also remarkable in Finland, but the sensitivity to heat stress has decreased over the decades.

Suggested Citation

  • Reija Ruuhela & Kirsti Jylhä & Timo Lanki & Pekka Tiittanen & Andreas Matzarakis, 2017. "Biometeorological Assessment of Mortality Related to Extreme Temperatures in Helsinki Region, Finland, 1972–2014," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-19, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:8:p:944-:d:109192
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/8/944/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/8/944/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel Oudin Åström & Bertil Forsberg & Kristie L. Ebi & Joacim Rocklöv, 2013. "Attributing mortality from extreme temperatures to climate change in Stockholm, Sweden," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 3(12), pages 1050-1054, December.
    2. Francesca K. De’ Donato & Michela Leone & Matteo Scortichini & Manuela De Sario & Klea Katsouyanni & Timo Lanki & Xavier Basagaña & Ferran Ballester & Christofer Åström & Anna Paldy & Mathilde Pascal , 2015. "Changes in the Effect of Heat on Mortality in the Last 20 Years in Nine European Cities. Results from the PHASE Project," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-17, December.
    3. Junzhe Bao & Xudong Li & Chuanhua Yu, 2015. "The Construction and Validation of the Heat Vulnerability Index, a Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-15, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Joris Adriaan Frank Van Loenhout & Jose Manuel Rodriguez-Llanes & Debarati Guha-Sapir, 2016. "Stakeholders’ Perception on National Heatwave Plans and Their Local Implementation in Belgium and The Netherlands," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-14, November.
    2. Mare Lõhmus, 2018. "Possible Biological Mechanisms Linking Mental Health and Heat—A Contemplative Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-21, July.
    3. Matteo Scortichini & Manuela De Sario & Francesca K. De’Donato & Marina Davoli & Paola Michelozzi & Massimo Stafoggia, 2018. "Short-Term Effects of Heat on Mortality and Effect Modification by Air Pollution in 25 Italian Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-12, August.
    4. Fariha Hasan & Shayan Marsia & Kajal Patel & Priyanka Agrawal & Junaid Abdul Razzak, 2021. "Effective Community-Based Interventions for the Prevention and Management of Heat-Related Illnesses: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-14, August.
    5. Aleš Urban & Katrin Burkart & Jan Kyselý & Christian Schuster & Eva Plavcová & Hana Hanzlíková & Petr Štěpánek & Tobia Lakes, 2016. "Spatial Patterns of Heat-Related Cardiovascular Mortality in the Czech Republic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-19, March.
    6. Xing Zhang & Tianjun Zhou & Wenxia Zhang & Liwen Ren & Jie Jiang & Shuai Hu & Meng Zuo & Lixia Zhang & Wenmin Man, 2023. "Increased impact of heat domes on 2021-like heat extremes in North America under global warming," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. Suresh Kumar Rathi & Soham Chakraborty & Saswat Kishore Mishra & Ambarish Dutta & Lipika Nanda, 2021. "A Heat Vulnerability Index: Spatial Patterns of Exposure, Sensitivity and Adaptive Capacity for Urbanites of Four Cities of India," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-17, December.
    8. Wei Zhang & Phil McManus & Elizabeth Duncan, 2018. "A Raster-Based Subdividing Indicator to Map Urban Heat Vulnerability: A Case Study in Sydney, Australia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-20, November.
    9. Reija Ruuhela & Otto Hyvärinen & Kirsti Jylhä, 2018. "Regional Assessment of Temperature-Related Mortality in Finland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-13, February.
    10. Aleš Urban & Hana Hanzlíková & Jan Kyselý & Eva Plavcová, 2017. "Impacts of the 2015 Heat Waves on Mortality in the Czech Republic—A Comparison with Previous Heat Waves," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-19, December.
    11. You Jin Kwon & Dong Kun Lee & You Ha Kwon, 2020. "Is Sensible Heat Flux Useful for the Assessment of Thermal Vulnerability in Seoul (Korea)?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-26, February.
    12. Zhiyong Tian & Shicong Zhang & Jie Deng & Bozena Dorota Hrynyszyn, 2020. "Evaluation on Overheating Risk of a Typical Norwegian Residential Building under Future Extreme Weather Conditions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-12, February.
    13. Richard S. J. Tol, 2016. "The Impacts Of Climate Change According To The Ipcc," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(01), pages 1-20, February.
    14. Christofer Åström & Daniel Oudin Åström & Camilla Andersson & Kristie L. Ebi & Bertil Forsberg, 2017. "Vulnerability Reduction Needed to Maintain Current Burdens of Heat-Related Mortality in a Changing Climate—Magnitude and Determinants," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-10, July.
    15. Subhashisa Swain & Shreeporna Bhattacharya & Ambarish Dutta & Sanghamitra Pati & Lipika Nanda, 2019. "Vulnerability and Adaptation to Extreme Heat in Odisha, India: A Community Based Comparative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-12, December.
    16. Jongchul Park & Yeora Chae & Seo Hyung Choi, 2019. "Analysis of Mortality Change Rate from Temperature in Summer by Age, Occupation, Household Type, and Chronic Diseases in 229 Korean Municipalities from 2007–2016," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-15, May.
    17. Hung Chak Ho & Kevin Ka-Lun Lau & Ruby Yu & Dan Wang & Jean Woo & Timothy Chi Yui Kwok & Edward Ng, 2017. "Spatial Variability of Geriatric Depression Risk in a High-Density City: A Data-Driven Socio-Environmental Vulnerability Mapping Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-16, August.
    18. Mary Fox & Christopher Zuidema & Bridget Bauman & Thomas Burke & Mary Sheehan, 2019. "Integrating Public Health into Climate Change Policy and Planning: State of Practice Update," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-22, September.
    19. Tanja Wolf & Wen-Ching Chuang & Glenn McGregor, 2015. "On the Science-Policy Bridge: Do Spatial Heat Vulnerability Assessment Studies Influence Policy?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-29, October.
    20. Antonis Analitis & Francesca De’ Donato & Matteo Scortichini & Timo Lanki & Xavier Basagana & Ferran Ballester & Christopher Astrom & Anna Paldy & Mathilde Pascal & Antonio Gasparrini & Paola Micheloz, 2018. "Synergistic Effects of Ambient Temperature and Air Pollution on Health in Europe: Results from the PHASE Project," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-11, August.

    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:14:y:2017:i:8:p:944-:d:109192. 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.