Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
Centre for Health Systems and Policy Research, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
J Glob Health. 2023 Oct 13;13:04122. doi: 10.7189/jogh.13.04122.
Studies have highlighted the impacts of temperature variability (TV) on mortality from respiratory diseases and cardiovascular diseases, with inconsistent results specifically in subtropical urban areas than temperate ones. We aimed to fully determine TV-associated health risks over a spectrum of diseases and various subgroups in a subtropical setting.
Using inpatient data from all public hospitals in Hong Kong from 1999 to 2019, we examined the TV-hospitalisation associations by causes, ages, and seasons by fitting a quasi-Poisson regression. We presented the results as estimated percentage changes of hospitalisations per interquartile range (IQR) of TV.
TVs in exposure days from 0-5 days (TV) to 0-7 days (TV) had detrimental effects on hospitalisation risks in Hong Kong. The overall population was significantly affected over TV to TV in endocrine, nutritional and metabolic (from 0.53% to 0.58%), respiratory system (from 0.38% to 0.53%), and circulatory systems diseases (from 0.47% to 0.56%). While we found no association with seasonal disparities, we did observe notable disparities by age, highlighting older adults' vulnerability to TVs. For example, people aged ≥65 years experienced the highest change of 0.88% (95% CI = 0.34%, 1.41%) in hospitalizations for injury and poisoning per IQR increase in TV.
Our population-based study highlighted that TV-related health burden, usually regarded as minimal compared to other environmental factors, should receive more attention and be addressed in future relevant health policies, especially for vulnerable populations during the cold seasons.
研究强调了温度变化（TV）对呼吸系统疾病和心血管疾病死亡率的影响，但在亚热带城市地区与温带地区相比，具体结果不一致。我们的目的是在亚热带环境下，全面确定 TV 相关的疾病谱和各种亚组的健康风险。
使用香港所有公立医院 1999 年至 2019 年的住院数据，通过拟合拟泊松回归，按病因、年龄和季节检查 TV-住院关联。我们将结果表示为 TV 每四分位距（IQR）变化的住院百分比变化。
暴露天数从 0-5 天（TV）到 0-7 天（TV）的 TV 对香港的住院风险有不利影响。总人口在 TV 到 TV 期间受到显著影响，内分泌、营养和代谢系统（从 0.53%到 0.58%）、呼吸系统（从 0.38%到 0.53%）和循环系统疾病（从 0.47%到 0.56%）。虽然我们没有发现与季节性差异有关，但我们确实观察到了年龄方面的显著差异，突出了老年人对 TV 的脆弱性。例如，年龄≥65 岁的人群每增加一个 IQR 的 TV，因伤和中毒住院的变化最大，为 0.88%（95%CI=0.34%，1.41%）。
我们的基于人群的研究强调，通常被认为比其他环境因素影响较小的 TV 相关健康负担，应在未来的相关卫生政策中得到更多关注和解决，特别是在寒冷季节对弱势群体。
