Authors:

Margaret Gonzalez

Date Created:

Not specified

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About Paper:

Extreme heat can impair the body's ability to control its temperature, irritate the skin, cause dehydration, and much more, leading to heat-related illnesses like heat stroke as well as increasing the risk for other health issues like heart attacks [1,2]. Because of these dangerous impacts, it is critical that extreme heat be well understood. Recent studies in Chicago have analyzed the relationship between mortality and extreme heat, finding that extreme heat increases mortality rates, in particular for vulnerable populations [3]. However, the relationship between extreme heat and health problems beyond mortality is less certain. This project aims to address the gap in knowledge regarding the spatial and temporal effects of extreme heat on emergency medical services (EMS) calls, a novel understanding of extreme heat that considers health more generally. By aggregating EMS call data across Chicago community areas and utilizing Daymet 1km x 1km surface climatological variable data to identify extreme heat, this project will quantify the relationship between EMS calls and extreme heat. Preliminary modeling efforts have already identified a positive relationship between heat index and call volume, suggesting that call volume increases to some degree as heat index increases. Not only will these results identify the locations in Chicago suffering most from extreme heat but they will also reveal the strain extreme heat may have on the healthcare system. Thus, this project will generate a more robust understanding of the impacts of extreme heat on public health and the healthcare system in Chicago, results that can be generalized further as well.

Source:

Loyola University Chicago

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No topics listed

Co-authors:

Margaret Gonzalez