TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2023//
TI  - Heat wave exposure and increased heat-related hospitalizations in young children in South Korea: a time-series study
JO  - Environmental research
A1  - Oh, Jongmin
A1  - Kim, Eunji
A1  - Kwag, Youngrin
A1  - An, Hyungmi
A1  - Kim, Hae Soon
A1  - Shah, Surabhi
A1  - Lee, Ji Hyen
A1  - Ha, Eunhee
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have investigated the association between heat wave exposure increased heat-related hospitalizations in the general population. However, little is known about heat-related morbidity in young children who are more vulnerable than the general population. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the association between hospitalization for heat-related illness in children and heat wave exposure in South Korea. <br><br>METHODS: We used the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) database, which provides medical records from 2015 to 2019 in South Korea. We defined daily hospitalizations for heat-related illness of children younger than five years during the summer period (June to August). We considered the definition of heat waves considering the absolute temperature and percentile. A total of 12 different heat waves were used. A time-series analysis was used to investigate the association between heat wave exposure and heat-related hospitalization among children younger than five years. We used a two-stage design involving a meta-analysis after modeling by each region. <br><br>RESULTS: We included 16,879 daily heat-related hospitalizations among children younger than five years. Overall, heat wave exposure within two days was most related for heat-related hospitalizations in young children. The relative risk (RR) due to heat wave exposure within two days (lag2) (12 definitions: 70th to 90th percentile of maximum temperature) ranged from 1.038 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.971, 1.110) to 1.083 (95% CI: 1.036, 1.133). We found that boys were more vulnerable to heat exposure than girls. In addition, we found that urban areas were more vulnerable to heat exposure than rural areas. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: In our study, heat wave exposure during summer was found to be associated with an increased risk of hospitalization for heat-related illness among children younger than five years. Our findings suggest the need for summer heat wave management and prevention for children.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0013-9351
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2023.117561
ID  - ref1
ER  -