Understanding Weather and Hospital Admissions Patterns to Inform Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in the Healthcare Sector in Uganda

Katherine Bishop-Williams,Didacus Namanya,Patricia Garcia,Victoria Edge,Bwindi Community Hospital ,Shuaib Lwasa,Yi Huang,David Pearl,Lea Berrang-Ford,James Ford,Sherilee Harper,Ihacc Research Team ,Ashlee Cunsolo,Jan Sargeant

doi:10.3390/ijerph15112402

Abstract

Background: Season and weather are associated with many health outcomes, which can influence hospital admission rates. We examined associations between hospital admissions (all diagnoses) and local meteorological parameters in Southwestern Uganda, with the aim of supporting hospital planning and preparedness in the context of climate change. Methods: Hospital admissions data and meteorological data were collected from Bwindi Community Hospital and a satellite database of weather conditions, respectively (2011 to 2014). Descriptive statistics were used to describe admission patterns. A mixed-effects Poisson regression model was fitted to investigate associations between hospital admissions and season, precipitation, and temperature. Results: Admission counts were highest for acute respiratory infections, malaria, and acute gastrointestinal illness, which are climate-sensitive diseases. Hospital admissions were 1.16 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.31; p = 0.008) times higher during extreme high temperatures (i.e., >95th percentile) on the day of admission. Hospital admissions association with season depended on year; admissions were higher in the dry season than the rainy season every year, except for 2014. Discussion: Effective adaptation strategy characteristics include being low-cost and quick and practical to implement at local scales. Herein, we illustrate how analyzing hospital data alongside meteorological parameters may inform climate-health planning in low-resource contexts.

Highlights

Counts of hospital admissions have been associated with a variety of environmental factors, including seasonal and meteorological parameters [1,2]
While other studies examine associations of a single diagnosis with season and meteorological parameters, we intentionally focus on hospital admission counts for all diagnoses, using a case study in Uganda to explore overall primary healthcare service provision demands, and discuss our findings in the context of climate change adaptation for the healthcare sector
This study aimed to investigate associations of seasonal and meteorological parameters with hospital planning admissions for all diagnoses in Kanungu District, Uganda, in the context of hospital planning for climate change

Summary

Introduction

Counts of hospital admissions have been associated with a variety of environmental factors, including seasonal and meteorological parameters [1,2]. In the context of climate change adaptation [4], these geo-spatial variances matter, as effective climate change adaptation often requires localized and context-specific actions [5,6,7,8] For this reason, it is important to document and understand localized associations between meteorological parameters and hospital admissions as a potential way to inform planning and preparedness measures that can support climate change adaptation in the healthcare sector [3,4,9,10]. Of the little research on seasonal and meteorological associations with hospital admissions that has been conducted in Africa, much has focused on specific health outcomes, which vary by host, environment, and agent. Associations between disease and meteorological parameters identified in a number of African studies tend to be locally specific and vary by health outcomes, and little is known about the collective impact (i.e., overall influence) of meteorological or seasonal parameters on hospital admissions for all diagnoses.

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