Department of Sociology, School of Social Development and Public Policy, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Nevada at Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA.
Sci Total Environ. 2024 Nov 15;951:175247. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175247. Epub 2024 Aug 5.
The ongoing climate change crisis presents challenges to the global public health system. The risk of gastrointestinal illness (GI) related hospitalization increases following extreme weather events but is largely under-reported and under-investigated. This study assessed the association between precipitation and GI-related hospital admissions in four major cities in Texas. Daily data on GI-related hospital admissions and precipitation from 2004 to 2014 were captured from the Texas Department of State Health Services and the National Climate Data Center. Distributed lagged nonlinear modeling approaches were employed to examine the association between precipitation and GI-related hospital admissions. Results showed that the cumulative risk ratios (RRs) of GI-related hospital admissions were elevated in the 2 weeks following precipitation events; however, there were differences observed across study locations. The cumulative RR of GI-related hospitalizations was significantly higher when the amount of daily precipitation ranged from 3.3 mm to 13.5 mm in Dallas and from 6.0 mm to 24.5 mm in Houston. Yet, substantial increases in the cumulative RRs of GI-related hospitalizations were not observed in Austin or San Antonio. Age-specific and cause-specific GI-related hospitalizations were also found to be associated with precipitation events following the same pattern. Among them, Houston depicted the largest RR for overall GI and subgroup GI by age and cause, particularly for the overall GI among children aged 6 and under (RR = 1.35; 95 % CI = 1.11, 1.63), diarrhea-caused GI among children aged 6 and under (RR = 1.38, 95 % CI = 1.13, 1.69), and other-caused GI among children age 6 and under (RR = 1.46; 95 % CI = 1.12, 1.80). The findings underscore the need for public health interventions and adaptation strategies to address climate change-related health outcomes such as GI illness associated with extreme precipitation events.
气候变化危机给全球公共卫生系统带来了挑战。极端天气事件后，与胃肠道疾病（GI）相关的住院风险增加，但很大程度上报告和调查不足。本研究评估了德克萨斯州四个主要城市的降水与与 GI 相关的住院之间的关联。从 2004 年到 2014 年，GI 相关住院和降水的每日数据从德克萨斯州州立卫生服务部和国家气候数据中心捕获。使用分布式滞后非线性建模方法来检查降水与与 GI 相关的住院之间的关联。结果表明，在降水事件发生后的 2 周内，与 GI 相关的住院的累积风险比（RR）升高；然而，在研究地点之间观察到差异。当达拉斯的每日降水量范围为 3.3 毫米至 13.5 毫米且休斯顿的每日降水量范围为 6.0 毫米至 24.5 毫米时，与 GI 相关的住院的累积 RR 显著更高。然而，在奥斯汀或圣安东尼奥并没有观察到与 GI 相关的住院的累积 RR 显著增加。还发现特定年龄和特定病因的与 GI 相关的住院与降水事件有关，遵循相同的模式。其中，休斯顿描绘了所有年龄段 GI 和按年龄和病因分组的 GI 的最大 RR，尤其是 6 岁以下儿童的总体 GI（RR=1.35；95%CI=1.11，1.63），6 岁以下儿童腹泻引起的 GI（RR=1.38，95%CI=1.13，1.69），以及 6 岁以下儿童其他病因引起的 GI（RR=1.46；95%CI=1.12，1.80）。这些发现强调了需要采取公共卫生干预和适应策略来应对与气候变化相关的健康结果，例如与极端降水事件相关的胃肠道疾病。
