title: The impact of extremely high temperatures on mortality and mortality cost.
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine the temperature threshold that triggers an increase in heat-induced mortality in Zaragoza, Spain to determine the impact of extreme heat on mortality and in-hospital cost. A longitudinal ecological study was conducted according to an autoregressive integrated moving average model of a time series for daily deaths and to determine the relative risk of mortality for each degree that the temperature threshold was exceeded. Mortality showed a statistically significant increase when the daily maximum temperature exceeded 38 °C. A Relative Risk was 1.28 with a 95 % confidence interval (95 %CI:1.08-1.57) This threshold temperature didn't change over time. A total of 107 (95 %CI:42-173) heat-attributable deaths were estimated for the period 2002-2006, and the in-hospital estimated cost of these deaths reach € 426,087(95 %CI.€ 167,249-€ 688,907). The articulation of preventive measures to minimize the impact of extreme heat on human health is necessary because of the mortality-temperature relationship.
authors.affiliation: a Health Faculty Sciences , San Jorge University , Zaragoza , Spain.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Roldán
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gómez
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Pino
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Díaz
mesh_terms: D016000:Cluster Analysis; D055874:Extreme Heat / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006358:Hot Temperature / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D007259:Infrared Rays; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000191:economics; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009026:Mortality; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: economic impact; heat waves; temperature; threshold; total mortality