Building Vulnerability in a Changing Climate: Indoor Temperature Exposures and Health Outcomes in Older Adults Living in Public Housing during an Extreme Heat Event in Cambridge, MA.

Augusta A Williams,Paul Catalano,Joseph G Allen,Jose G Cedeno-Laurent,John D Spengler

doi:10.3390/ijerph16132373

Augusta A Williams, Paul Catalano + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16132373

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Abstract

In the Northeastern U.S., future heatwaves will increase in frequency, duration, and intensity due to climate change. A great deal of the research about the health impacts from extreme heat has used ambient meteorological measurements, which can result in exposure misclassification because buildings alter indoor temperatures and ambient temperatures are not uniform across cities. To characterize indoor temperature exposures during an extreme heat event in buildings with and without central air conditioning (AC), personal monitoring was conducted with 51 (central AC, n = 24; non-central AC, n = 27) low-income senior residents of public housing in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2015, to comprehensively assess indoor temperatures, sleep, and physiological outcomes of galvanic skin response (GSR) and heart rate (HR), along with daily surveys of adaptive behaviors and health symptoms. As expected, non-central AC units (Tmean = 25.6 °C) were significantly warmer than those with central AC (Tmean = 23.2 °C, p < 0.001). With higher indoor temperatures, sleep was more disrupted and GSR and HR both increased (p < 0.001). However, there were no changes in hydration behaviors between residents of different buildings over time and few moderate/several health symptoms were reported. This suggests both a lack of behavioral adaptation and thermal decompensation beginning, highlighting the need to improve building cooling strategies and heat education to low-income senior residents, especially in historically cooler climates.

Highlights

Extreme heat events are a significant public health threat that are increasing in frequency, duration, and severity with climate change [1,2]
The mean indoor relative humidity was significantly higher in the central air conditioning (AC) group than in the non-central AC building (p < 0.001), but absolute humidity was similar between building groups (p = 0.5356) (Table 1)
Sensors were used to quantify indoor temperatures during an extreme heat event, reducing temperature exposure misclassification, and associated increases in heart rate (HR) and galvanic skin response (GSR) of 51 older adults living in public housing

Summary

Introduction

Extreme heat events are a significant public health threat that are increasing in frequency, duration, and severity with climate change [1,2]. The human body becomes less effective at thermoregulation, which has direct and indirect health impacts on cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, pancreatic, digestive, cerebrovascular, and cognitive functions that result in significant morbidity and mortality. Extreme heat events, such as the 2003 European HW and the 2015 HW in India, result in extraordinary loss of. Public Health 2019, 16, 2373; doi:10.3390/ijerph16132373 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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