Short- and Long-Term Effects of Drought on Selected Causes of Mortality in Northern Bangladesh

Intekhab Alam, Shinji Otani, Abir Nagata, Mohammad Shahriar Khan, Toshio Masumoto, Hiroki Amano and Youichi Kurozawa
Additional contact information
Intekhab Alam: Division of Health Administration and Promotion, Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, School of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago 683-8503, Japan
Shinji Otani: International Platform for Dryland Research and Education, Tottori University, Yonago 680-0001, Japan
Abir Nagata: Department of Regenerative Dermatology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
Mohammad Shahriar Khan: International Platform for Dryland Research and Education, Tottori University, Yonago 680-0001, Japan
Toshio Masumoto: Division of Health Administration and Promotion, Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, School of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago 683-8503, Japan
Hiroki Amano: Division of Health Administration and Promotion, Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, School of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago 683-8503, Japan
Youichi Kurozawa: Division of Health Administration and Promotion, Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, School of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago 683-8503, Japan

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: Drought has exacerbated morbidity and mortality worldwide. Here, a time series study was conducted in northern Bangladesh to evaluate the impact of drought on selected causes of mortality during 2007–2017. Rainfall and temperature data from six meteorological stations were used to analyze drought and non-drought periods and to categorize mild, moderate, severe, and extreme drought based on the 3-month and 12-month Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standardized Precipitation Evaporation Index (SPEI). A generalized linear model with Poisson regression with log link, a negative binomial with log link, and a zero-inflated Poisson model were used to determine associations between drought severity and mortality. The SPI and SPEI produced slightly different analysis results. Compared with the SPEI, the SPI showed a stronger and more sensitive correlation with mortality. The relative risk for respiratory disease mortality was high, and Saidpur was the most vulnerable area. Health care expenditure was negatively associated with mortality. High temperatures during the drought period were associated with suicide-related mortality in Rajshahi. The impact of drought on mortality differed with small changes in climate. The findings of this study improve our understanding of the differences between the two most used drought indicators and the impact of drought on mortality.

Keywords: drought; public health; mortality; SPI; SPEI; SVRS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/6/3425/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/6/3425/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:6:p:3425-:d:770799

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().