Abstract
The impact of heat waves on ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality and morbidity in Germany during 2001–2010 is analyzed. Heat waves are defined as periods of at least three consecutive days with daily mean temperature above the 97.5th percentile of the temperature distribution. Daily excess mortality and morbidity rates are used. All calculations were performed separately for 19 regions to allow for the investigation of regional differences. The results show that IHD mortality during heat waves is significantly increased (+15.2% more deaths on heat wave days). In stark contrast, no heat wave influence on hospital admissions due to IHD could be observed. Regional differences in heat wave IHD mortality are present, with the strongest impact in Western Germany and weaker than average effects in the Southeastern and Northwestern regions. The increase in mortality during heat waves is generally stronger for females (+18.7%) than for males (+11.4%), and for chronic ischemic diseases (+18.4%) than for myocardial infarctions (+12.2%). Longer and more intense heat waves feature stronger effects on IHD mortality, while timing in season seems to be less important. Since climate change will most likely enhance the number and intensity of heat waves, the obtained results point to public adaptation strategies to reduce the future heat wave impact on mortality.
Highlights
Weather affects public health in many ways and heat is one of the primary weather-associated threats to human life [1]
A similar pattern is observed for the average temperature during heat waves, which are lowest again in Northern Germany
The meteorological heat wave characteristics are relatively similar across Germany with only moderate variation by region
Summary
Weather affects public health in many ways and heat is one of the primary weather-associated threats to human life [1]. High ambient temperature is associated with increases in both mortality and morbidity [2,3,4,5]. The death toll of the 2003 heat waves in Europe was estimated to be around 50,000 additional deaths [6]. Heat waves, defined as extended periods of extreme high temperatures, exert a stronger influence on human health than isolated hot days [7,8]. There are distinct differences between the various diseases: while the heat effect is highest for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, other illnesses seem to be less affected [9,10]
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