High temperature as a risk factor for infectious diarrhea in Shanghai, China

• Published in: Journal of epidemiology Vol. 23; no. 6; pp. 418 - 423
• Main Authors: Zhou, Xiaodan, Zhou, Yanbing, Chen, Renjie, Ma, Wenjuan, Deng, Haiju, Kan, Haidong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan Japan Epidemiological Association 2013
• Subjects: Adult; Ambulatory Care - statistics & numerical data; Child; China - epidemiology; Diarrhea; Dysentery - diagnosis; Dysentery - epidemiology; Environment; High temperature; Hot Temperature - adverse effects; Humans; Original; Risk Factors; Time Factors; China; Shanghai China
• ISSN: 0917-5040; 1349-9092
• DOI: 10.2188/jea.je20130012

Recent studies indicate that ambient temperature could be a risk factor for infectious diarrhea, but evidence for such a relation is limited in China. We investigated the short-term association between daily temperature and physician-diagnosed infectious diarrhea during 2008-2010 in Shanghai, China. We adopted a time-series approach to analyze the data and a quasi-Poisson regression model with a natural spline-smoothing function to adjust for long-term and seasonal trends, as well as other time-varying covariates. There was a significant association between temperature and outpatient visits for diarrhea. A 1°C increase in the 6-day moving average of temperature was associated with a 2.68% (95% CI: 1.83%, 3.52%) increase in outpatient visits for diarrhea. We did not find a significant association between rainfall and infectious diarrhea. High temperature might be a risk factor for infectious diarrhea in Shanghai. Public health programs should focus on preventing diarrhea related to high temperature among city residents.