Impact of Heat Waves on Hospitalisation and Mortality in Nursing Homes: A Case-Crossover Study

Ine Van den Wyngaert, Katrien De Troeyer, Bert Vaes, Mahmoud Alsaiqali, Bert Van Schaeybroeck, Rafiq Hamdi, Lidia Casas Ruiz and Gijs Van Pottelbergh
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Ine Van den Wyngaert: Academic Centre for General Practice, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Katrien De Troeyer: Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Bert Vaes: Academic Centre for General Practice, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Mahmoud Alsaiqali: Social Epidemiology and Health Policy, Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Bert Van Schaeybroeck: Royal Meteorological Institute, 1180 Brussels, Belgium
Rafiq Hamdi: Royal Meteorological Institute, 1180 Brussels, Belgium
Lidia Casas Ruiz: Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Gijs Van Pottelbergh: Academic Centre for General Practice, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 20, 1-8

Abstract: Climate change leads to more days with extremely hot temperatures. Previous analyses of heat waves have documented a short-term rise in mortality. The results on the relationship between high temperatures and hospitalisations, especially in vulnerable patients admitted to nursing homes, are inconsistent. The objective of this research was to examine the discrepancy between heat-related mortality and morbidity in nursing homes. A time-stratified case-crossover study about the impact of heat waves on mortality and hospitalisations between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2017 was conducted in 10 nursing homes over 5 years in Flanders, Belgium. In this study, the events were deaths and hospitalisations. We selected our control days during the same month as the events and matched them by day of the week. Heat waves were the exposure. Conditional logistic regression models were applied. The associations were reported as odds ratios at lag 0, 1, 2, and 3 and their 95% confidence intervals. In the investigated time period, 3048 hospitalisations took place and 1888 residents died. The conditional logistic regression showed that odds ratios of mortality and hospitalisations during heat waves were 1.61 (95% confidence interval 1.10–2.37) and 0.96 (95% confidence interval 0.67–1.36), respectively, at lag 0. Therefore, the increase in mortality during heat waves was statistically significant, but no significant changes in hospitalisations were obtained. Our result suggests that heat waves have an adverse effect on mortality in Flemish nursing homes but have no significant effect on the number of hospitalisations.

Keywords: heat wave; nursing home; hospital admissions; morbidity; mortality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:20:p:10697-:d:654439

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