Association between Temperature Change and Outpatient Visits for Respiratory Tract Infections among Children in Guangzhou, China

Yu Liu, Yong Guo, Changbing Wang, Weidong Li, Jinhua Lu, Songying Shen, Huimin Xia, Jianrong He and Xiu Qiu
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Yu Liu: Division of Birth Cohort Study, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Sun Yat-sen University, 9 Jinsui Road, Guangzhou 510623, China
Yong Guo: Division of Birth Cohort Study, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Sun Yat-sen University, 9 Jinsui Road, Guangzhou 510623, China
Changbing Wang: Central Laboratory, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Sun Yat-sen University, 9 Jinsui Road, Guangzhou 510623, China
Weidong Li: Division of Birth Cohort Study, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Sun Yat-sen University, 9 Jinsui Road, Guangzhou 510623, China
Jinhua Lu: Division of Birth Cohort Study, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Sun Yat-sen University, 9 Jinsui Road, Guangzhou 510623, China
Songying Shen: Division of Birth Cohort Study, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Sun Yat-sen University, 9 Jinsui Road, Guangzhou 510623, China
Huimin Xia: Division of Birth Cohort Study, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Sun Yat-sen University, 9 Jinsui Road, Guangzhou 510623, China
Jianrong He: Division of Birth Cohort Study, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Sun Yat-sen University, 9 Jinsui Road, Guangzhou 510623, China
Xiu Qiu: Division of Birth Cohort Study, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Sun Yat-sen University, 9 Jinsui Road, Guangzhou 510623, China

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: The current study examined the association between temperature change and clinical visits for childhood respiratory tract infections (RTIs) in Guangzhou, China. Outpatient records of clinical visits for pediatric RTIs, which occurred from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2013, were collected from Guangzhou Women and Children’s Hospital. Records for meteorological variables during the same period were obtained from the Guangzhou Meteorological Bureau. Temperature change was defined as the difference between the mean temperatures on two consecutive days. A distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) was used to examine the impact of temperature change on pediatric outpatient visits for RTIs. A large temperature decrease was associated with a significant risk for an RTI, with the effect lasting for ~10 days. The maximum effect of a temperature drop (?8.8 °C) was reached at lag 2~3 days. Children aged 0–2 years, and especially those aged <1 year, were particularly vulnerable to the effects of temperature drop. An extreme temperature decrease affected the number of patient visits for both upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) and lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs). A temperature change between consecutive days, and particularly an extreme temperature decrease, was significantly associated with increased pediatric outpatient visits for RTIs in Guangzhou.

Keywords: temperature change; respiratory tract infections; outpatient visits; distributed lag non-linear model; children (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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