The effects of temperature and humidity on mortality in acute medical admissions
Philippa White 1 * , Richard Conway 1 , Declan Byrne 1 , Deirdre O’Riordan 1 , Bernard Silke 1
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1 Department of Internal Medicine, St James’s Hospital, Dublin, IRELAND* Corresponding Author

Abstract

The full effects of meteorological variables on mortality have not yet been elucidated. This study’s aim was to investigate whether 30-day in-hospital mortality in emergency hospital admissions for non-respiratory diseases were sensitive to the effects of humidity and ambient temperature on the day of admission. We studied all emergency medical admissions to St. James’s Hospital, Dublin, during 2002-2018 (n=113,807) and investigated temperature and humidity on day of admission. We employed multivariable logistic regression to identify temperature and humidity mortality predictors, adjusting for underlying comorbidities. Lower temperatures on day of admission predicted higher 30-day in-hospital mortality (adjusted OR: 1.12, 95% CI: 1.06-1.17), but lower humidity levels did not (adjusted OR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.91-1.03). There was no interaction between meteorological variables and comorbidities on mortality. In conclusion, temperature may be a more significant predictor of in-hospital mortality than humidity for non-respiratory patients.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EUR J ENV PUBLIC HLT, Volume 7, Issue 1, 2023, Article No: em0123

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejeph/12446

Publication date: 01 Jan 2023

Online publication date: 09 Sep 2022

Article Views: 967

Article Downloads: 1255

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