Spatial Patterns of Heat-Related Cardiovascular Mortality in the Czech Republic

Abstract

The study examines spatial patterns of effects of high temperature extremes on cardiovascular mortality in the Czech Republic at a district level during 1994–2009. Daily baseline mortality for each district was determined using a single location-stratified generalized additive model. Mean relative deviations of mortality from the baseline were calculated on days exceeding the 90th percentile of mean daily temperature in summer, and they were correlated with selected demographic, socioeconomic, and physical-environmental variables for the districts. Groups of districts with similar characteristics were identified according to socioeconomic status and urbanization level in order to provide a more general picture than possible on the district level. We evaluated lagged patterns of excess mortality after hot spell occurrences in: (i) urban areas vs. predominantly rural areas; and (ii) regions with different overall socioeconomic level. Our findings suggest that climatic conditions, altitude, and urbanization generally affect the spatial distribution of districts with the highest excess cardiovascular mortality, while socioeconomic status did not show a significant effect in the analysis across the Czech Republic as a whole. Only within deprived populations, socioeconomic status played a relevant role as well. After taking into account lagged effects of temperature on excess mortality, we found that the effect of hot spells was significant in highly urbanized regions, while most excess deaths in rural districts may be attributed to harvesting effects.

Remote Sensing in Environmental Justice Research—A Review

“…The health burdens through heat, however, strongly depend on the spatial setting and vary at different scales (regionally [139] and locally [140]). Local changes, especially in heavily urbanized areas, originate from heterogeneous land use patterns, built-up densities and characteristics of the urban setting [141], and are connected to vegetation deficiency [142].…”

“…Many health relevant environmental influences that are not directly measurable can only be described by a proxy of urban structure [60,67,139,165]. As these proxies can be assessed at different spatial scales from the level of an entire city to the level of single streets, they must be captured at various levels.…”

Heat-waves and mortality in Czech cities: A case study for the summers of 2015 and 2016

“…In Czechia, much of the important research into temperature-related mortality has been conducted by research groups associated with J. Kyselý of the Institute of Atmosperic physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Kyselý & Huth, 2004;Kyselý et al, 2009;Urban & Kyselý, 2014;Urban et al, 2016;Urban et al, 2019). Kyselý (2003) described an overall mortality increase of 16% and in specifically cardiovascular mortality of 18% during the extreme heat-wave of 1994.…”

“…Further investigation was conducted to compare heat-related mortality in various Czech regions. A study conducted by Urban et al (2016) addressed differences between urban and rural areas, pointing out the significant influence of the level of urbanization on excess mortality during hot days.…”

Participatory Climate Change Impact Assessment in Three Czech Cities: The Case of Heatwaves

“…Several studies have analysed heat-related mortality in the population of the Czech Republic [18,56,57]. For instance, the analysis focusing on the impacts of hot spells on mortality in 1986-2009 discovered a declining mortality trend despite the rising temperature.…”