The association between apparent temperature and hospital ad-missions for cardiovascular disease in Limpopo Province, South Africa

Jacqueline Buhler, Shreya Shrikande, Thandi Kapwata, Guelaido Cissé, Yajun Liang, Hugo Pedder, Marek Kwiatkowski, Zamantimande Kunene, Angela Mathee, Nasheeta Peer, Caradee Y. Wright*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)
26 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have a high disease burden both globally and in South Africa. They have also been found to be temperature-sensitive globally. The association between temperature and CVD morbidity has previously been demonstrated, but little is known about it in South Africa. It is important to understand how changes in temperature in South Africa will affect CVD morbidity, especially in rural regions, to inform public health interventions and adaptation strategies. The study aimed to determine the short-term effect of apparent temperature (Tapp) on CVD hospital admissions in Mopani District, Limpopo province, South Africa. A total of 3,124 CVD hospital admissions records were obtained from two hospitals from 1 June 2009 to 31 December 2016. Daily Tapp was calculated using nearby weather station measurements. The association was modelled using a distributed lag non-linear model with a negative binomial regression over a 21-day lag period. The fraction of morbidity attributable to non-optimal Tapp, i.e., cold (6-25°C) and warm (27-32°C) Tapp was reported. We found an increase in the proportion of admissions due to CVDs for warm and cold Tapp cumulatively over 21 days. Increasing CVD admissions due to warm Tapp ap-peared immediately and lasted for 2 to 4 days, whereas the lag-structure for the cold effect was inconsistent. A proportion of 8.5% (95% Confidence Interval (CI): 3.1%, 13.7%) and 1.1% (95% CI: -1.4%, 3.5%) of the total CVD admissions was attributable to cold and warm temperatures, re-spectively. Warm as well as cold Tapp may increase CVD admissions, suggesting the healthcare system and community need to be prepared in the context of global temperature changes.
Original languageEnglish
Article number116
JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume20
Issue number1
Early online date22 Dec 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
S.S. was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 801076. Permission to obtain the hospital admissions data for the study was granted by the Limpopo Department of Health (REF 4/2/2) and the management staff of Nkhensani Hospital and Maphutha L. Malatjie Hospital. The South African Medical Research Council Research Ethics Committee approved the study protocol (EC005-3/2014).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors.

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The association between apparent temperature and hospital ad-missions for cardiovascular disease in Limpopo Province, South Africa'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this