Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Number of ED Vi sits Related to Heat Exposure
North Carolina, 01 May-31-August 2007
160
110
150
140
100
120
121
90
100
80
80
60
70
40
60
20
0
50
May
June
July
August
Te mperature data
Figure16.1
A snapshot of situation awareness: final version of North Carolina Division of Public Health's
graphic plotting heat-related admissions by date.
Still, it's not exactly revelatory to learn that emergency department visits
for heat exhaustion increase when it is hot. The fact that the NC DETECT
system picked up surges in heat-related admissions when it was supposed
to indicated that it was working as designed. It remained to be seen whether
this information could be translated into effective programmatic changes.
At Dr. Maillard's suggestion, Roberts began to analyze the characteristics
of the patients being admitted for heat-related illnesses. Based on the past
extreme heat episodes, such as those in Chicago and Europe, conventional
wisdom at the time held that the elderly and small children were at the great-
est risk from the heat. For example, CDC's standard media advisory defines
children under 4, persons aged 65 and older, or other older people who are
overweight as being at highest risk of heat-related illness (CDC Office of
Enterprise Communications 2009). As of June 30, 2007, North Carolina's heat
recommendations mirrored those of CDC.
“Children, the elderly, people with chronic illnesses, and people on certain
medications like tranquilizers or diuretics are especially at risk from high
summer temperatures. So are older people who live in homes or apart-
ments without air conditioning or good air-flow, and people who don't
drink enough water. Hot weather also adds to ozone levels, making those
with respiratory illness more vulnerable (NC DHHS Public Affairs 2007).”
