title: Thermal stress associated mortality risk and effect modification by sex and obesity in an elderly cohort of Chinese in Hong Kong.
abstract: We assessed the effects of apparent temperature (AT) on mortality and the effect modifications attributable to individual characteristics in Hong Kong with subtropical climate conditions. Two datasets are used for analyses: one from mortality data of the general elderly population in 1998-2009; the other from an elderly cohort with 66,820 subjects recruited in 1998-2001 with mortality outcomes followed up until 2009. We found that AT below 20.8 °C was associated with an increase in mortality risk of 1.99% (95% confidence interval: 0.64%, 2.64%) for all causes, 2.48% (0.57%, 4.36%) for cardiovascular disease, and 3.19% (0.59%, 5.73%) for respiratory disease for every 1 °C decrease in AT over the following 3 days. The associations were modified by sex and body mass index, in particular stronger associations were observed for females and for obese subjects.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, 5th Floor, Faculty of Medicine Building, 21 Sassoon Road, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Wansu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Thuan-Quoc
authors.initials: TQ
authors.lastname: Thach
authors.forename: Yuen-Kwan
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Chau
authors.forename: Hak-Kan
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Tai-Hing
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: Wai-Man
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Ruby S Y
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Anthony J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Hedley
authors.forename: Chit-Ming
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000397:Air Pollution; D044466:Asian People; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality; D057231:Climate Change; D005260:Female; D018882:Heat Stress Disorders / Q000401:mortality*; D018869:Heat-Shock Response; D006723:Hong Kong / Q000453:epidemiology; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality; D009765:Obesity / Q000401:mortality*; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000401:mortality; D012737:Sex Factors