Burden of non-accidental mortality attributable to ambient temperatures: a time series study in a high plateau area of southwest China

Objective

To examine the total non-accidental mortality burden attributable to ambient temperatures and assess the effect modification of the burden by specific causes of death and individual characteristics in a high plateau area in southwest China.

Methods

Using daily mortality and meteorological data from 2009 to 2016, we applied a quasi-Poisson model combined with a distributed lag non-linear model to estimate the temperature–mortality association with the assessment of attributable fraction and number. We calculated attributable fractions and deaths with 95% empirical CIs (eCIs), that were due to cold and heat, defined as temperatures below and above the median temperature, and for mild and extreme temperatures, defined by cut-offs at the 2.5th and 97.5th temperature percentiles.

Results

We analysed 89 467 non-accidental deaths; 4131 were attributable to overall temperatures, with an attributable fraction of 4.75% (95% eCI 2.33% to 6.79%). Most of the mortality burden was caused by cold (4.08%; 0.86% to 7.12%), whereas the burden due to heat was low and non-significant (0.67%; –2.44% to 3.64%). Extreme cold (1.17%; 0.58% to 1.69%) was responsible for 24.6% (ie, 1.17% divided by 4.75%) of the total death burden. In the stratification analyses, attributable risk due to cold was higher for cardiovascular than respiratory disease (6.18% vs 3.50%). We found a trend of risk of increased death due to ambient temperatures with increasing age, with attributable fractions of 1.83%, 2.27% and 6.87% for age ≤64, 65–74 and ≥75 years old, respectively. The cold-related burden was slightly greater for females, farmers, ethnic minorities and non-married individuals than their corresponding categories.

Conclusions

Most of the burden of death was attributable to cold, and specific causes and individual characteristics might modify the mortality burden attributable to ambient temperatures. The results may help make preventive measures to confront climate change for susceptible population in this region.

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