Implications of elevated temperatures in health surveillance

Increasing concern over the health implications of global climate change necessitates the need to better monitor the impacts of our changing climate on health, especially paying attention to the proportion of the population most vulnerable. The present study examines the relationship of heat-related incidents in the City of Phoenix, Arizona from 2001 to 2006 relative to heat-climate variables, as well as relative to the socio-economic characteristics of the places where these incidents occurred. The 5th largest city in the United States, the City of Phoenix, with its building concentration and paved surfaces, has been subject to a worsening urban heat island (UHI) effect; this, coupled with the increasing severity of heat events due to climate change have served to compromise many residents' health condition. From a series of statistical and GIS analyses, we present here the population-level risk factors to heat events in the City of Phoenix, and show where these risk factors are concentrated in the City. A predictive model of the urban temperature that allows the simulation of how specific mitigating factors can alleviate elevated temperatures is also introduced. The presentation will conclude with some policy implications that call for close collaboration between emergency responders and public health researchers engaged in heat-related studies.