Report a Comment

"During heat waves, elderly people living in city areas where night temperatures remain higher are more likely to succumb to the heat than those in nearby suburban areas where temperatures dip when the sun goes down.

"Researchers found that night temperatures matter when they studied the 9-day hot spell that hit Paris, France, in 2003. The average temperature differences between the city and the suburb varied about 1 or 2 degrees during nights and days, respectively.

"Yet, even with these slight temperature changes, older people living in the city had twice the risk of dying from the heat than those in the suburbs, according to a study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives."

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/2012/03/2012-0409-heat-islands-amplify-death-risk/

"The link between indoor and outdoor temperature should also be taken into account to adapt heat reduction strategies in cities. Thus, a study conducted in Montreal in July 2005 on 75 apartments (Smargiassi et al. 2008) showed linear relations between outdoor air, surface temperature, and indoor temperature. The indoor temperature was higher in big buildings, which should be the first target for preventive measures. The surface temperature of the preceding 24 or 72 hr also affects the indoor temperature (Smargiassi et al. 2008; Wright et al. 2005).

"This joint study has allowed us to estimate the impact of heat exposure on an elderly population in urban locations, and our findings highlight the role of high nighttime temperatures and the duration of heat. Our findings are relevant to long-term prevention in the framework of national and local heat wave plans and should be of interest to urban decision makers, including health and environment ministries, mayors, and urban planning agencies, to guide actions for reducing heat islands.

"Because we spend a great part of our time inside buildings (at home or at work), further studies are needed to better understand the relationship between outdoor and indoor temperatures. In the case of an extreme heat event, the elderly are the most at risk because they sometimes spend all day inside poorly ventilated homes or uninsulated apartments on top floors of buildings (Zeghnoun and Dor 2010)."

http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.1103532

by Jazzy on Jul 9, 2012 6:06 am • link • report