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Association between temperature and natural mortality in Belgium : effect modification by individual characteristics and residential environment

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Abstract
Background: There is strong evidence of mortality being associated to extreme temperatures but the extent to which individual or residential factors modulate this temperature vulnerability is less clear. Methods: We conducted a multi-city study with a time-stratified case-crossover design and used conditional logistic regression to examine the association between extreme temperatures and overall natural and cause-specific mortality. City-specific estimates were pooled using a random-effect meta-analysis to describe the global association. Cold and heat effects were assessed by comparing the mortality risks corresponding to the 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles of the daily temperature, respectively, with the minimum mortality temperature. For cold, we cumulated the risk over lags of 0 to 28 days before death and 0 to 7 days for heat. We carried out stratified analyses and assessed effect modification by individual characteristics, preexisting chronic health conditions and residential environment (population density, built-up area and air pollutants: PM2.5, NO2, O-3 and black carbon) to identify more vulnerable population subgroups. Results: Based on 307,859 deaths from natural causes, we found significant cold effect (OR = 1.42, 95%CI: 1.30-1.57) and heat effect (OR = 1.17, 95%CI: 1.12-1.21) for overall natural mortality and for respiratory causes in particular. There were significant effects modifications for some health conditions: people with asthma were at higher risk for cold, and people with psychoses for heat. In addition, people with long or frequent hospital admissions in the year preceding death were at lower risk. Despite large uncertainties, there was suggestion of effect modification by air pollutants: the effect of heat was higher on more polluted days of O-3 and black carbon, and a higher cold effect was observed on more polluted days of PM(2.5 )and NO2 while for O-3, the effect was lower. Conclusions: These findings allow for targeted planning of public-health measures aiming to prevent the effects of extreme temperatures.
Keywords
Pollution, Waste Management and Disposal, Environmental Chemistry, Environmental Engineering, Temperature, Mortality, Vulnerability, Effect modification, Preexisting conditions, Air pollution, AIR-POLLUTION, HEALTH, HEAT, METAANALYSIS, MECHANISMS, EXPOSOME, EXTREMES, DEATHS, URBAN, RISK

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MLA
Demoury, Claire, et al. “Association between Temperature and Natural Mortality in Belgium : Effect Modification by Individual Characteristics and Residential Environment.” SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, vol. 851, 2022, doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158336.
APA
Demoury, C., De Troeyer, K., Berete, F., Aerts, R., Van Schaeybroeck, B., Van der Heyden, J., & De Clercq, E. M. (2022). Association between temperature and natural mortality in Belgium : effect modification by individual characteristics and residential environment. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, 851. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158336
Chicago author-date
Demoury, Claire, Katrien De Troeyer, Finaba Berete, Raf Aerts, Bert Van Schaeybroeck, Johan Van der Heyden, and Eva M. De Clercq. 2022. “Association between Temperature and Natural Mortality in Belgium : Effect Modification by Individual Characteristics and Residential Environment.” SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 851. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158336.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Demoury, Claire, Katrien De Troeyer, Finaba Berete, Raf Aerts, Bert Van Schaeybroeck, Johan Van der Heyden, and Eva M. De Clercq. 2022. “Association between Temperature and Natural Mortality in Belgium : Effect Modification by Individual Characteristics and Residential Environment.” SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 851. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158336.
Vancouver
1.
Demoury C, De Troeyer K, Berete F, Aerts R, Van Schaeybroeck B, Van der Heyden J, et al. Association between temperature and natural mortality in Belgium : effect modification by individual characteristics and residential environment. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT. 2022;851.
IEEE
[1]
C. Demoury et al., “Association between temperature and natural mortality in Belgium : effect modification by individual characteristics and residential environment,” SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, vol. 851, 2022.
@article{8764446,
  abstract     = {{Background: There is strong evidence of mortality being associated to extreme temperatures but the extent to which individual or residential factors modulate this temperature vulnerability is less clear. Methods: We conducted a multi-city study with a time-stratified case-crossover design and used conditional logistic regression to examine the association between extreme temperatures and overall natural and cause-specific mortality. City-specific estimates were pooled using a random-effect meta-analysis to describe the global association. Cold and heat effects were assessed by comparing the mortality risks corresponding to the 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles of the daily temperature, respectively, with the minimum mortality temperature. For cold, we cumulated the risk over lags of 0 to 28 days before death and 0 to 7 days for heat. We carried out stratified analyses and assessed effect modification by individual characteristics, preexisting chronic health conditions and residential environment (population density, built-up area and air pollutants: PM2.5, NO2, O-3 and black carbon) to identify more vulnerable population subgroups. Results: Based on 307,859 deaths from natural causes, we found significant cold effect (OR = 1.42, 95%CI: 1.30-1.57) and heat effect (OR = 1.17, 95%CI: 1.12-1.21) for overall natural mortality and for respiratory causes in particular. There were significant effects modifications for some health conditions: people with asthma were at higher risk for cold, and people with psychoses for heat. In addition, people with long or frequent hospital admissions in the year preceding death were at lower risk. Despite large uncertainties, there was suggestion of effect modification by air pollutants: the effect of heat was higher on more polluted days of O-3 and black carbon, and a higher cold effect was observed on more polluted days of PM(2.5 )and NO2 while for O-3, the effect was lower. Conclusions: These findings allow for targeted planning of public-health measures aiming to prevent the effects of extreme temperatures.}},
  articleno    = {{158336}},
  author       = {{Demoury, Claire and De Troeyer, Katrien and Berete, Finaba and Aerts, Raf and Van Schaeybroeck, Bert and Van der Heyden, Johan and De Clercq, Eva M.}},
  issn         = {{0048-9697}},
  journal      = {{SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT}},
  keywords     = {{Pollution,Waste Management and Disposal,Environmental Chemistry,Environmental Engineering,Temperature,Mortality,Vulnerability,Effect modification,Preexisting conditions,Air pollution,AIR-POLLUTION,HEALTH,HEAT,METAANALYSIS,MECHANISMS,EXPOSOME,EXTREMES,DEATHS,URBAN,RISK}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{9}},
  title        = {{Association between temperature and natural mortality in Belgium : effect modification by individual characteristics and residential environment}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158336}},
  volume       = {{851}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}

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