Hourly Associations between Heat Index and Heat-Related Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Calls in Austin-Travis County, Texas

Kijin Seong (), Junfeng Jiao and Akhil Mandalapu
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Kijin Seong: Urban Information Lab, School of Architecture, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
Junfeng Jiao: Urban Information Lab, School of Architecture, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
Akhil Mandalapu: Department of Public Health, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 19, 1-15

Abstract: This paper aims to investigate the following research questions: (1) what are the hourly patterns of heat index and heat-related emergency medical service (EMS) incidents during summertime?; and (2) how do the lagged effects of heat intensity and hourly excess heat (HEH) vary by heat-related symptoms? Using the hourly weather and heat-related EMS call data in Austin-Travis County, Texas, this paper reveals the relationship between heat index patterns on an hourly basis and heat-related health issues and evaluates the immediate health effects of extreme heat events by utilizing a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM). Delving into the heat index intensity and HEH, our findings suggest that higher heat intensity has immediate, short-term lagged effects on all causes of heat-related EMS incidents, including in cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological, and non-severe cases, while its relative risk (RR) varies by time. HEH also shows a short-term cumulative lagged effect within 5 h in all-cause, cardiovascular, and non-severe symptoms, while there are no statistically significant RRs found for respiratory and neurological cases in the short term. Our findings could be a reference for policymakers when devoting resources, developing extreme heat warning standards, and optimizing local EMS services, providing data-driven evidence for the effective deployment of ambulances.

Keywords: distributed lag non-linear model; heat index; intensity; hourly excess heat; extreme heat; emergency medical service (EMS) incident (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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