Umeå University's logo

We studied the potential synergy between air pollution and meteorology and their impact on mortality in nine European cities with data from 2004 to 2010. We used daily series of Apparent Temperature (AT), measurements of particulate matter (PM₁₀), ozone (O₃), and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and total non-accidental, cardiovascular, and respiratory deaths. We applied Poisson regression for city-specific analysis and random effects meta-analysis to combine city-specific results, separately for the warm and cold seasons. In the warm season, the percentage increase in all deaths from natural causes per °C increase in AT tended to be greater during high ozone days, although this was only significant for all ages when all causes were considered. On low ozone days, the increase in the total daily number of deaths was 1.84% (95% CI 0.87, 2.82), whilst it was 2.20% (95% CI 1.28, 3.13) in the high ozone days per 1 °C increase in AT. Interaction with PM₁₀ was significant for cardiovascular (CVD) causes of death for all ages (2.24% on low PM₁₀ days (95% CI 1.01, 3.47) whilst it is 2.63% (95% CI 1.57, 3.71) on high PM₁₀ days) and for ages 75+. In days with heat waves, no consistent pattern of interaction was observed. For the cold period, no evidence for synergy was found. In conclusion, some evidence of interactive effects between hot temperature and the levels of ozone and PM₁₀ was found, but no consistent synergy could be identified during the cold season.

Syftet med detta projekt har varit att med hjälp av en intervjustudie och kunskapsgenomgång redovisahur utomhusmiljö, gemensamhetslokaler och bostäder kan utformas för att minska risken för att äldreoch personer med nedsatt funktionsförmåga blir medtagna eller dör i förtid under värmeböljor. Måletär att öka medvetenheten och intresset för anpassning av miljö och byggnader hos personer ansvarigaför samhällsplanering, bostadsbestånd, trygghets-, vård- och omsorgsboenden.

Städer är normalt varmare och mindre blåsiga än det omgivande landskapet. Städernas ”varmareklimat” beror främst på den större värmelagring som kan ske i byggnader, gator, trottoarer mm,begränsat med vegetation som kan skugga och avge fukt samt aktiviteter som trafik och eldning vilketgenererar värme. Under värmeböljor ökar dödligheten mer i städer. Att leva ensam, vara sängbundenoch bo på översta våningen har visats vara riskfaktorer.

Åtgärderna för att minska stadens värmeö och värmeböljornas effekter på människor brukar iblanddelas in i ”mjuka åtgärder” (information, varningssystem för värmeböljor, insatser för känsligagrupper), ”gröna åtgärder” (göra staden till en grönare miljö) och ”tekniska åtgärder” (skuggandekonstruktioner, modifiering av väggar, kylning/luftkonditionering inomhus etc.), vilka kompletterarvarandra. I vissa länder, bl. a. England, ska äldreboenden ha ett samlingsrum som kan hållas svaltäven under värmeböljor, men det är oklart vilken juridisk status som bestämmelserna har.

Intervjustudien syftade till att belysa hur problemen uppfattas av personal inom äldreomsorgen iSverige. Som datainsamlingsmetod genomfördes 20 semistrukturerade intervjuer medomvårdnadspersonal i Botkyrka kommun under oktober 2011. Urvalet baserades påtillgänglighetsprincipen. Innehållsanalyser gjordes på transkriberad intervjudata och kategorier ochunderkategorier skapades utifrån återkommande teman som återfanns i texten. Slutsatserna frånstudien pekar på att de utbildnings- och informationsinsatser angående värmeböljors effekter påkänsliga grupper som riktas till personal inom äldreomsorgen borde intensifieras, samt attpersonalens kunskap om verksamheten och vårdtagarnas behov borde tas tillvara redan iplaneringsstadiet för äldreboenden.

The current global geographic distribution of malaria results from a complex interaction between climatic and non-climatic factors. Over the past century, socio-economic development and public health measures have contributed to a marked contraction in the distribution of malaria. Previous assessments of the potential impact of global changes on malaria have not quantified the effects of non-climate factors. In this paper, we describe an empirical model of the past, present and future-potential geographic distribution of malaria which incorporates both the effects of climate change and of socio-economic development. A logistic regression model using temperature, precipitation and gross domestic product per capita (GDPpc) identifies the recent global geographic distribution of malaria with high accuracy (sensitivity 85% and specificity 95%). Empirically, climate factors have a substantial effect on malaria transmission in countries where GDPpc is currently less than US$20,000. Using projections of future climate, GDPpc and population consistent with the IPCC A1B scenario, we estimate the potential future population living in areas where malaria can be transmitted in 2030 and 2050. In 2050, the projected population at risk is approximately 5.2 billion when considering climatic effects only, 1.95 billion when considering the combined effects of GDP and climate, and 1.74 billion when considering GDP effects only. Under the A1B scenario, we project that climate change has much weaker effects on malaria than GDPpc increase. This outcome is, however, dependent on optimistic estimates of continued socioeconomic development. Even then, climate change has important effects on the projected distribution of malaria, leading to an increase of over 200 million in the projected population at risk.

BACKGROUND: Many regions of the world are now facing more frequent and unprecedentedly large wildfires. However, the association between wildfire-related PM_2·5 and mortality has not been well characterised. We aimed to comprehensively assess the association between short-term exposure to wildfire-related PM_2·5 and mortality across various regions of the world.

METHODS: For this time series study, data on daily counts of deaths for all causes, cardiovascular causes, and respiratory causes were collected from 749 cities in 43 countries and regions during 2000-16. Daily concentrations of wildfire-related PM_2·5 were estimated using the three-dimensional chemical transport model GEOS-Chem at a 0·25° × 0·25° resolution. The association between wildfire-related PM_2·5 exposure and mortality was examined using a quasi-Poisson time series model in each city considering both the current-day and lag effects, and the effect estimates were then pooled using a random-effects meta-analysis. Based on these pooled effect estimates, the population attributable fraction and relative risk (RR) of annual mortality due to acute wildfire-related PM_2·5 exposure was calculated.

FINDINGS: 65·6 million all-cause deaths, 15·1 million cardiovascular deaths, and 6·8 million respiratory deaths were included in our analyses. The pooled RRs of mortality associated with each 10 μg/m³ increase in the 3-day moving average (lag 0-2 days) of wildfire-related PM_2·5 exposure were 1·019 (95% CI 1·016-1·022) for all-cause mortality, 1·017 (1·012-1·021) for cardiovascular mortality, and 1·019 (1·013-1·025) for respiratory mortality. Overall, 0·62% (95% CI 0·48-0·75) of all-cause deaths, 0·55% (0·43-0·67) of cardiovascular deaths, and 0·64% (0·50-0·78) of respiratory deaths were annually attributable to the acute impacts of wildfire-related PM_2·5 exposure during the study period.

INTERPRETATION: Short-term exposure to wildfire-related PM_2·5 was associated with increased risk of mortality. Urgent action is needed to reduce health risks from the increasing wildfires.