Grundstein Andrew, Null Jan, Meentemeyer Vernon
University of Georgia, Athens.
Geogr Rev. 2011;101(4):353-70. doi: 10.1111/j.1931-0846.2011.00101.x.
Vehicle-related hyperthermia is an unfortunate tragedy that leads to the accidental deaths of children each year. This research utilizes the most extensive dataset of child vehicle-related hyperthermia deaths in the United States, including 414 deaths between 1998 and 2008. Deaths follow a seasonal pattern, with a peak in July and no deaths in December or January. Also, deaths occurred over a wide range of temperature and radiation levels and across virtually all regions, although most of them took place across the southern United States. In particular, the Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, and Las Vegas metropolitan areas had the greatest number of deaths. We utilize our vehicle hyperthermia index (vhi) to compare expected deaths versus actual deaths in a metropolitan area, based on the number of children in the area who are under the age of five and on the frequency of hot days in the area. The vhi indicates that the Memphis, West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, and Las Vegas metropolitan areas are the most dangerous places for vehicle-related hyperthermia. We conclude by discussing several recommendations with public health policy implications.
车辆相关的体温过高是一场不幸的悲剧，每年都会导致儿童意外死亡。本研究使用了美国与车辆相关的儿童体温过高死亡事件最全面的数据集，包括1998年至2008年间的414例死亡案例。死亡呈现季节性模式，7月达到峰值，12月或1月无死亡案例。此外，死亡发生在广泛的温度和辐射水平范围内，几乎遍布所有地区，不过大多数死亡案例发生在美国南部。特别是，凤凰城、休斯顿、达拉斯和拉斯维加斯大都市区的死亡案例最多。我们利用车辆体温过高指数（vhi），根据某大都市区五岁以下儿童数量以及该地区炎热天数的频率，比较该地区预期死亡人数与实际死亡人数。vhi表明，孟菲斯、西棕榈滩-博卡拉顿和拉斯维加斯大都市区是车辆相关体温过高最危险的地方。我们通过讨论几项具有公共卫生政策意义的建议来得出结论。
