Impact of urban outdoor thermal conditions on selected hospital admissions in Novi Sad, Serbia

Daniela Arsenović*, Stevan Savić, Dragan Milošević, Zorana Lužanin, Milena Kojić, Ivana Radić, Sanja Harhaji, Miodrag Arsić

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Climate change has been recognized as an important issue in public health, with particular concerns being raised about the effects of heat and cold extremes on health, and about seasonal changes over the year and their associations with increased mortality and hospitalizations. This paper explored the relationship between physiological equivalent temperature (PET) and cardiovascular and respiratory hospital admissions in Novi Sad (Serbia) with the aim of assessing the impact of urban outdoor thermal conditions on health. Analysis was performed using daily data on cardiovascular and respiratory hospital admissions by gender covering the period from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2017. For the same period, PET was calculated using data from two urban meteorological network stations. The association between PET and hospital admissions was examined using a generalized additive model (GAM) combined with a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM). The study found a non-linear relationship between PET and cardiovascular and respiratory hospital admissions, with a larger impact during the cold period of the year. The findings also indicated that under conditions of high PET, the cumulative RR increased for cardiovascular admissions (for males) and respiratory admissions (for females). People with pre-existing respiratory diseases were found to be more vulnerable under conditions of extremely low and moderately low PET, with a greater effect at lag 0–14 days. By contrast, for people with cardiovascular diseases, low PET was linked to a decrease in hospital admissions, with the risk being lowest at lag 0 and 0–3 days.

Original languageEnglish
Number of pages15
JournalVienna Yearbook of Population Research
Volume22
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2024

Keywords

  • Cardiovascular diseases
  • Hospital admission
  • Physiological equivalent temperature
  • Respiratory diseases
  • Serbia

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