Impact of ambient temperature on life loss per death from cardiovascular diseases: a multicenter study in central China

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 29; no. 11; pp. 15791 - 15799
• Main Authors: Lv, Ling-Shuang, Zhou, Chun-Liang, Jin, Dong-Hui, Ma, Wen-Jun, Liu, Tao, Xie, Yi-Jun, Xu, Yi-Qing, Zhang, Xing-E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.03.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aged; Ambient temperature; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Cardiovascular diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases - mortality; China; Climate change; Climate studies; Cold; Cold Temperature; Death; Dose-response effects; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Extreme cold; Female; Hot Temperature; Humans; Male; Meteorological data; Mortality; Regression models; Research Article; Temperature; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; China; Year of life lost; Distributed lag nonlinear model; Cardiovascular diseases; Ambient temperature; Mortality; Extreme temperature
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-16888-7

Background In the context of global climate change, studies have focused on the ambient temperature and mortality of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, little is known about the effect of ambient temperature on year of life lost (YLL), especially the life loss per death caused by ambient temperature. In this study, we aimed to assess the relationship between ambient temperature and life loss and estimate the impact of ambient temperature on life loss per death. Methods We collected daily time series of mortality and meteorological data from 70 locations in Hunan province, central China, in periods ranging from Jan. 1, 2013, to Dec. 31, 2017. Crude rates of YLL were calculated per 100,000 people per year (YLL/100,000 population) for each location. A distributed lag nonlinear model and multivariate meta-regression were used to estimate the associations between ambient temperature and YLL rates. Then, the average life loss per death attributable to ambient temperature was calculated. Results There were 711,484 CVD deaths recorded within the study period. The exposure-response curve between ambient temperature and YLL rates was inverted J or U-shaped. Relative to the minimum YLL rate temperature, the life loss risk of extreme cold temperature lasted for 10 to 12 days, whereas the risk of extreme hot temperature appeared immediately and lasted for 3 days. On average, the life loss per death attributable to non-optimum ambient temperatures was 1.89 (95% CI, 1.21-2.56) years. Life loss was mainly caused by cold temperature (1.13, 95% CI, 0.89‑1.37), particularly moderate cold (1.00, 95% CI, 0.78‑1.23). For demographic characteristics, the mean life loss per death was relatively higher for males (2.07, 95% CI, 1.44‑2.68) and younger populations (3.72, 95% CI, 2.06‑5.46) than for females (1.88, 95% CI, 1.21-2.57) and elderly people (1.69, 95% CI, 1.28-2.10), respectively. Conclusions We found that both cold and hot temperatures significantly aggravated premature death from CVDs. Our results indicated that the whole range of effects of ambient temperature on CVDs should be given attention.