A study reveals higher hospitalization rates in older adults following tropical cyclones

An increase in total hospitalizations for older adults has been reported in the week after being exposed to a tropical circle, according to a new study by researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Global Institute and colleagues at Colorado State University and Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.

The researchers used data over 16 years on 70 million Medicare hospitals and a comprehensive database of local-level local winds associated with tropical tours to study how tropical wind exposures of cycling cause impact on hospitals from 13 causes that are both disparate, with clinical significance, along with over 100 sub-causes.

This study is the first comprehensive study of the effects of hurricanes and other tropical cyclones on all major and minor causes of hospitalization. The results are published in Nature Communication.

More than 16,000 additional hospitals were associated with tropical cyclones over a ten-year average. Studies have shown an average increase of 14 percent in respiratory infections in the week after exposure. The day after your tropical tours with wind force winds doubled respiratory disease hospitals.

There was also reported an average increase of 4 percent in infectious and parasitic infections and a 9 percent uptick in injuries. Hospitals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) rose 45 percent the week after tropical exposure to cyclone compared with weeks without exposure.

This increase in hospitals was largely driven by an increase in emergency hospitals. The researchers argue that there may have been cases where knowledge of the cyclones disrupted routine medical care, forcing people to go to the hospital to access services they could receive. outside a hospital setting without the storm.

For example, if those with respiratory issues lost power – often as a result of tropical cycling winds – they might have turned to hospitals if they needed power for medical equipment that could provide a hospital.

However, for specific reasons, such as certain cancers, the authors also reported a decrease in hospitals. These declining rates were driven by non-emergency hospitals, indicating that people could stop registered hospitals because of the storm, which could have long-term effects on health.

We know that hurricanes and other tropical cyclones have a devastating impact on society, especially the poorest and most vulnerable. But so far only limited studies have previously measured their impact on health outcomes. Current weather trends also indicate that we can expect tropical cyclone exposure to continue to pose a threat to human health and wellbeing, and could devastate many more communities. , now and in the future. “

Robbie M. Parks, PhD, First Author Study and Postdoctoral Fellowship, Earth Institute, Columbia University School of Postural Health

There is no doubt that extreme weather events, such as tropical cyclones, pose a major threat to human health in the U.S. and many other parts of the world – now and with climate change in the future. Our study is the first big step in understanding how tropical exposure affects many adverse health outcomes. “

The researchers hope that an appropriate prediction of tropical wheels could help, for example, in designing shelters to provide electricity and common medicines and create easy ways for vulnerable people with certain illnesses to locate and use these facilities outside the hospital.

One of the main barriers to research in this area is the difficulty of accessing data for exposure assessment. This research was greatly facilitated by the work of G. Brooke Anderson, PhD, associate professor at Colorado State University, who maintained an open source database to easily assess tropical psychiatry for epidemiologic studies.

The authors linked the exposure data with complete hospitalization data among Medicare registrants. “The development of environmental health data search platforms that provide one-point access to data, such as the one we used for this study, can be a very powerful tool allowing research in a direction that was not possible before,” said Francesca Dominici, PhD., professor of biostatistics at Harvard Chan School and co-author.

“While there are still significant gaps in knowledge, we have gained valuable insights into hospital time versus openness and how tropical hospitals can affect specific hospitals,” said Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou, ScD, west. professor of environmental health sciences in Columbia. Mailman School, and senior author. “These important findings will be important for preparation planning, including hospital and physician preparation. Our study is only the first step in this process. “