Real-World Evidence for the Association between Heat-Related Illness and the Risk of Psychiatric Disorders in Taiwan

Fang-Ling Li, Wu-Chien Chien, Chi-Hsiang Chung, Chung-Yu Lai and Nian-Sheng Tzeng
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Fang-Ling Li: Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital Beitou Branch, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei City 112, Taiwan
Wu-Chien Chien: Department of Medical Research, Tri-Service General Hospital, School of Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei City 114, Taiwan
Chi-Hsiang Chung: Department of Medical Research, Tri-Service General Hospital, School of Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei City 114, Taiwan
Chung-Yu Lai: Graduate Institute of Aerospace and Undersea Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei City 114, Taiwan
Nian-Sheng Tzeng: Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei City 114, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 13, 1-12

Abstract: This study aimed to investigate the association between the heat-related illness (HRI) and the risk of developing psychiatric disorders. From 2000 to 2015, there were 3126 patients with newly diagnosed HRI selected from the National Health Insurance Research Database, along with 31,260 controls matched for gender and age. Fine and Gray’s analysis was used to compare the risk of psychiatric disorders during the 16 years of follow-up. Among the subjects, 523 of the HRI patients and 3619 of the control group (1774.18 vs. 1193.78 per 100,000 person-years) developed psychiatric disorders. Compared with non-HRI patients, the HRI ones had a 3.849-fold risk of being attacked by psychiatric disorders (95% CI: 3.632–4.369, p < 0.001) after adjusting for potential confounders. The sensitivity analysis revealed that the relationship between the HRI and the listed psychiatric disorders was determined by the exclusion of the first-year psychiatric events after the HRI. In spite of deleting the psychiatric diagnoses of the first five years, the HRI was still correlated with the development of psychiatric disorders with the exception of schizophreniform disorders, posttraumatic stress disorders, and acute stress disorder. Therefore, our findings concluded that the HRI could be a potential influence on the increased hazard of psychiatric disorders.

Keywords: heat-related illness; psychiatric disorders; National Health Insurance Research Database (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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