Assessing the use and understanding of the Portuguese heat–health warning system (ÍCARO)

Leite, Andreia; Santos, Ana João; Silva, Susana Pereira; Nunes, Baltazar; Mexía, Ricardo; Rodrigues, Ana Paula

doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdaa029

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…In addition, institutional adaptation strategies might be more advanced in Portugal, particularly after the 2003 heat wave that was responsible for more than 2000 excessive deaths [59]. That outstanding event triggered a wide range of improvements in hospitals and care homes, besides the development of an operational heat risk index [60] that has become widely used afterward by the health authorities. Overall, the excess death associated with heat wave events in Portugal has decreased after 2003, precisely the period under analyses here.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heat and Ozone Pollution Waves in Central and South Europe—Characteristics, Weather Types, and Association with Mortality

2020

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Air pollution and hot temperatures present two major health risks, especially for vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and people with pre-existing conditions. Episodes of high ozone concentrations and heat waves have been registered throughout Europe and are expected to continue to grow due to climate change. Here, several different heat and ozone wave definitions were applied to characterize the wave-type extremes for two climatically different regions, i.e., Portugal (South Europe) and Bavaria (Central Europe), and their impacts were evaluated considering each type of hazard independently but also when they occur simultaneously. Heat and ozone waves were analyzed with respect to the underlying atmospheric circulation patterns and in terms of their association with human mortality. Heat waves were identified as the most frequent wave type and, despite different climate settings, a comparable exposure to heat and ozone waves was found in Central and South Europe. Waves were associated with in-situ built-up as well as with advection of air masses. However, in Bavaria waves showed the strongest connection with autochthonous weather conditions, while for Portugal, the strongest relationship appeared for eastern and north-eastern inflow. The most severe events, as measured by excess mortality, were always associated to compound heat-ozone waves.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heat and Ozone Pollution Waves in Central and South Europe—Characteristics, Weather Types, and Association with Mortality

2020

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“…The heat-health-based system is the ICARO national warning system. This system was developed by the INSARJ in 1999 for heat waves [23]. Every working day between May and September, a bulletin reporting a risk level for each of the five mainland health regions is shared with a list of the healthcare institutions-the Directorate-General of Health (DGS), the Regional Health Administrations (ARSs), the Civil Protection Authority (ANPC), and local agencies (municipalities, police, and fire officers)-that implement measures to mitigate the possible effects predicted by ICARO system.…”

Section: The Existing Hhws For Portugalmentioning

confidence: 99%

CLIMAEXTREMO: A New Risk Indicator for the Health Risk to Building Occupants during Extreme Weather Events in Portugal

Silva,

Fernandes,

Gomes

et al. 2024

Sustainability

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Portugal is the country in Europe where the death rate in winter and summer has the highest correlation with outdoor temperatures. The Portuguese National Institute of Public Health Ricardo Jorge has developed a national warning system for heat waves called ICARO, which has been in place since 1999 (and is the oldest in Europe). However, it presents some limitations, namely, the low spatial resolution (five regions in Portugal’s mainland), the low temporal forecasting period (one day), and the fact that it was only accessible to health authorities until very recently. This work describes the development of a new public dashboard that uses a new early warning index for extreme weather events, the CLIMAEXTREMO index, which extends the current warning system by improving the current forecasting models for risk by integrating new sources of public data and increasing the spatial and time resolution of the warnings to the municipality or the parish level. The new index is a combination of a new model to estimate the relative mortality increase (updating the model used in ICARO) together with a model of the indoor temperature of building archetypes for all municipalities and a vulnerability index that considers socio-demographic economic indicators. This work discusses the results of the new risk indicator for the heat waves that occurred in Portugal at the end of June and mid-August 2023, and it shows that the index was able to indicate a high risk for the municipalities that had an increase in the number of deaths during that period.

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Heatwave Responses: Early Warning Systems

McGregor

2024

Biometeorology

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Assessing the use and understanding of the Portuguese heat–health warning system (ÍCARO)

Cited by 5 publications

References 7 publications

Heat and Ozone Pollution Waves in Central and South Europe—Characteristics, Weather Types, and Association with Mortality

Heat and Ozone Pollution Waves in Central and South Europe—Characteristics, Weather Types, and Association with Mortality

CLIMAEXTREMO: A New Risk Indicator for the Health Risk to Building Occupants during Extreme Weather Events in Portugal

Heatwave Responses: Early Warning Systems

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