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Urban environmental influences on the temperature–mortality relationship associated mental disorders and cardiorespiratory diseases during normal summer days in a subtropical city

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Abstract

Temperature is associated with mortality risk across cities. However, there is lack of study investigating the summer effect on mortality associated with mental/behavioral disorders, especially in cities with subtropical climate. In addition, summer mortality in subtropical cities is different from tropical cities, and previous studies have not investigated the urban environmental inequality on heat mortality associated with mental/behavioral disorders. A register-based study was developed to estimate the temperature effects on decedents on days with 50th percentile of average daily temperature between 2007 and 2014 in Hong Kong (n = 133,359). Poisson regression was firstly applied to estimate the incidence rate ratio (IRR) from the summer temperature effects on all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, respiratory mortality, and mortality associated with mental/behavioral disorders. For a 1 °C increase in average temperature on days with temperature ≥ 24.51 °C, IRRs of mortality associated with mental and behavioral disorders on lag 0 and lag 1 days were 1.033 [1.004, 1.062] and 1.030 [1.002, 1.060], while temperature effects on cardiovascular mortality and respiratory mortality during normal summer days (not extreme heat events) were not significant. A further investigation with linear regression has shown that decedents with mental/behavioral disorders on higher temperature days resided in areas with lower percentage of sky view, lower percentage of vegetation cover, higher level of neighborhood-level PM2.5, higher level of neighborhood-level NO, and higher level of neighborhood-level black carbon (BC). In order to develop protocols for community healthcare based on the “Leaving no one behind” scheme documented in the 2016 Sustainable Development Goals report of the United Nations, it is necessary to include heat effects on mental/behavioral disorders, especially people with dementia, for community planning and healthcare development.

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Funding

The authors specially thank the support in part by the grant (1-BBWD) from the Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, grants of 1-ZE24 and 1-ZVN6 from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Seed Fund for Basic Research (Project code: 201903159006) from the University of Hong Kong.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urban Planning and Design, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong

    Hung Chak Ho

  2. Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong

    Man Sing Wong

  3. Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong

    Man Sing Wong

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  1. Hung Chak Ho
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  2. Man Sing Wong
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Correspondence to Hung Chak Ho or Man Sing Wong.

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Ho, H., Wong, M. Urban environmental influences on the temperature–mortality relationship associated mental disorders and cardiorespiratory diseases during normal summer days in a subtropical city. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 24272–24285 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05594-0

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