Heat Adaptation among the Elderly in Spain (1983–2018)

Miguel Ángel Navas-Martín (), José Antonio López-Bueno, María Soledad Ascaso-Sánchez, Fernando Follos, José Manuel Vellón, Isidro Juan Mirón, María Yolanda Luna, Gerardo Sánchez-Martínez, Cristina Linares and Julio Díaz
Additional contact information
Miguel Ángel Navas-Martín: National School of Public Health, Carlos III Institute of Health, 28029 Madrid, Spain
José Antonio López-Bueno: National School of Public Health, Carlos III Institute of Health, 28029 Madrid, Spain
María Soledad Ascaso-Sánchez: National School of Public Health, Carlos III Institute of Health, 28029 Madrid, Spain
Fernando Follos: Tdot Soluciones Sostenibles, SL., Ferrol, 15401 A Coruña, Spain
José Manuel Vellón: Tdot Soluciones Sostenibles, SL., Ferrol, 15401 A Coruña, Spain
Isidro Juan Mirón: Regional Health Authority of Castile La Mancha, 45500 Torrijos, Spain
María Yolanda Luna: State Meteorological Agency, 28071 Madrid, Spain
Gerardo Sánchez-Martínez: The UNEP DTU Partnership, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Cristina Linares: National School of Public Health, Carlos III Institute of Health, 28029 Madrid, Spain
Julio Díaz: National School of Public Health, Carlos III Institute of Health, 28029 Madrid, Spain

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-10

Abstract: The capacity for adaptation to climate change is limited, and the elderly rank high among the most exposed population groups. To date, few studies have addressed the issue of heat adaptation, and little is known about the long-term effects of exposure to heat. One indicator that allows the ascertainment of a population’s level of adaptation to heat is the minimum mortality temperature (MMT), which links temperature and daily mortality. The aim of this study was to ascertain, firstly, adaptation to heat among persons aged ≥ 65 years across the period 1983 to 2018 through analysis of the MMT; and secondly, the trend in such adaptation to heat over time with respect to the total population. A retrospective longitudinal ecological time series study was conducted, using data on daily mortality and maximum daily temperature across the study period. Over time, the MMT was highest among elderly people, with a value of 28.6 °C (95%CI 28.3–28.9) versus 28.2 °C (95%CI 27.83–28.51) for the total population, though this difference was not statistically significant. A total of 62% of Spanish provinces included populations of elderly people that had adapted to heat during the study period. In general, elderly persons’ level of adaptation registered an average value of 0.11 (°C/decade).

Keywords: adaptation; MMT; age; prevention plan; mortality; health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1314/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1314/ (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:20:y:2023:i:2:p:1314-:d:1031883

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 ().