Projects per year
Abstract
Climate change is increasing human exposure to heat, especially in tropical regions such as Brazil where temperature reaches up to 40 °C in summer. However, the association between heat exposure and epileptic seizures has not been well demonstrated in Brazil, where lifetime prevalence of epilepsy can range from 11.9/1000 to 21/1000. We collected a total of 225,699 hospitalisation records for epileptic seizures of 1816 municipalities in Brazil, during the hot season from 2000 to 2015, covering nearly 79% of the national population. We implemented a time-stratified case-crossover design combined with distributed lag model with further stratified investigations regarding sex, age, socioeconomic status and region. We found temperature impact threshold was 26 °C in Brazil nationally. Every 1 °C increase from the threshold was associated with an overall 4.3% increased risk of hospitalisation for epileptic seizures on the current day of hospital admission and up to seven days before, which was most pronounced on the second-day exposure to heat. Females, individuals aged 20–30 and persons living in high-income or Southeast regions were more vulnerable. Our results highlight the enhanced risk of heat exposure for epilepsy patients and could contribute to epilepsy management, such as forecasting epileptic seizures. Multi-dimensional adaptive strategies were proposed, covering individual protection, occupational health surveillance, and urban planning management, aiming to reduce heat-induced hospitalisations for epilepsy, and be generalizable to other heat-related diseases.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 101497 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Urban Climate |
Volume | 49 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - May 2023 |
Keywords
- Case-crossover study
- Climate change
- Epilepsy/epileptic seizures
- Heatwave
- Neurological disease
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New Knowledge and Research Capacity for Health Impacts of Global Environmental Change with Big Data, Novel Approach and New Technology
Guo, Y. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI))
1/01/22 → 31/12/26
Project: Research
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Multi-Country Study on Health Effects of Bushfire Air Pollution
Guo, Y. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Abramson, M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Marks, G. B. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Johnston, F. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Heyworth, J. S. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Morgan, G. G. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Knibbs, L. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Samet, J. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Bell, M. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Woodward, A. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Jalaludin, B. B. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Saldiva, P. H. N. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Hales, S. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Henderson, S. B. (Partner Investigator (PI)) & Lavigne, E. (Partner Investigator (PI))
1/04/22 → 31/03/25
Project: Research
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Climate Change and Human Health in Asia: Current Impacts, Future Risks, and Health Benefits of Mitigation Policies
Guo, Y. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Capon, T. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Bi, P. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Jalaludin, B. B. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Zhang, Y. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Green, D. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Hu, W. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Arblaster, J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Li, S. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Phung, D. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Huxley, R. R. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Li, T. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Kan, H. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Kim, H. H. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Hales, S. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Peng, W. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Binti Mahjom, M. (Associate Investigator (AI)) & Phuleria, H. (Associate Investigator (AI))
1/01/21 → 31/12/24
Project: Research