Citation

Krstic N, Yuchi W, Ho HC, Walker BB, Knudby AJ, Henderson SB. Environ. Int. 2017; 109: 42-52.

Affiliation

Environmental Health Services, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, 655 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5Z 4R4, Canada; School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, 2206 East Mall, 3rd Floor, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada. Electronic address: sarah.henderson@bccdc.ca.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.envint.2017.09.011

PMID

28934628

Abstract

Mortality attributable to extreme hot weather is a growing concern in many urban environments, and spatial heat vulnerability indexes are often used to identify areas at relatively higher and lower risk. Three indexes were developed for greater Vancouver, Canada using a pool of 20 potentially predictive variables categorized to reflect social vulnerability, population density, temperature exposure, and urban form. One variable was chosen from each category: an existing deprivation index, senior population density, apparent temperature, and road density, respectively. The three indexes were constructed from these variables using (1) unweighted, (2) weighted, and (3) data-driven Heat Exposure Integrated Deprivation Index (HEIDI) approaches. The performance of each index was assessed using mortality data from 1998-2014, and the maps were compared with respect to spatial patterns identified. The population-weighted spatial correlation between the three indexes ranged from 0.68-0.89. The HEIDI approach produced a graduated map of vulnerability, whereas the other approaches primarily identified areas of highest risk. All indexes performed best under extreme temperatures, but HEIDI was more useful at lower thresholds. Each of the indexes in isolation provides valuable information for public health protection, but combining the HEIDI approach with unweighted and weighted methods provides richer information about areas most vulnerable to heat.

Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Case-crossover analysis; Heat vulnerability index; Hot weather mortality; Index performance; Public health; Spatial mapping