The Environmental Health Tracking Branch’s first MMWR surveillance summary was released Friday, December 12, 2014.
Heat Stress Illness Hospitalizations — Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, 20 States, 2001–2010. MMWR Surveillance Summaries/Vol. 63/ No. 13.
For the first time, ten years of heat stress illness (HSI) hospitalizations data from Tracking states have been analyzed and reported to highlight trends over time.
Data were used from 20 of the 25 tracking grantee states: California, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Major findings:
- Between 2001 and 2010, the 20 Tracking Program grantee states included in this report had
- about 28,000 HSI hospitalizations.
- an overall 2%–5% increase in the rate of HSI hospitalizations compared with the 2001 rate.
- a relatively strong positive correlation between the number of HSI hospitalizations and the average monthly maximum temperature/heat index.
- The majority of HSI hospitalizations occurred among males and persons aged 65 years and older.
- The highest rates of hospitalizations were in the Midwest and the South.
Public health agencies can use HSI hospitalizations data to estimate trends over time and to design targeted interventions to reduce heat stress illnesses among at-risk populations.
Visit the Tracking Network today to explore HSI hospitalizations data for yourself.