Environmental Health Services, BC Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Faculty of Medicine, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Can J Public Health. 2020 Dec;111(6):876-879. doi: 10.17269/s41997-020-00309-2. Epub 2020 Mar 16.
Climate change is an increasingly important public health issue, reflected in morbidity and mortality outcomes during extreme heat events. At the same time, the harms of social isolation with respect to a wide range of health outcomes are becoming better understood. Given that older adults are at higher risk during hot weather and at higher risk of social isolation, they are among those at highest risk for adverse impacts of extreme heat events. While specific strategies to reduce heat exposure have been described in the literature and promoted in public health practice, these may not be readily available to socially isolated older adults. As such, it is crucial to identify key approaches to address risk due to social isolation in the aging population, and to acknowledge their limitations and barriers. Interventions rooted in social connection, a concept widely applied in interventions for public health and social well-being, should be applied as a tool for adaptation to extreme heat events.
气候变化是一个日益重要的公共卫生问题，在极端高温事件期间的发病率和死亡率结果中得到体现。与此同时，社会隔离对广泛的健康结果的危害也越来越被理解。鉴于老年人在炎热天气下风险更高，并且更容易受到社会隔离的影响，他们是受极端高温事件不利影响风险最高的人群之一。虽然文献中已经描述了减少热暴露的具体策略，并在公共卫生实践中得到了推广，但这些策略可能并不容易为社会隔离的老年人所获得。因此，必须确定解决老龄化人口中由于社会隔离而产生的风险的关键方法，并认识到它们的局限性和障碍。以社会联系为基础的干预措施，这是一个广泛应用于公共卫生和社会福祉干预措施的概念，应该作为适应极端高温事件的工具。
