OCCUPATION AND HEALTH ›› 2026, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (22): 3127-3131.

• Treatise—Environment and Health • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Assessment of the mortality risk of heatwaves in Huai'an City from 2017 to 2024

LUO Shancai1, ZHANG Mengnan1, XU Mengying2, WU Xinyu3, SUN Zhongming1(), GE Hengkang1()   

  1. 1 Huai'an Center for Disease Control and PreventionHuai'anJiangsu 223001, China
    2 Huai'an Meteorological BureauHuai'anJiangsu 223001, China
    3 Huai'an Environmental Monitoring Center of Jiangsu ProvinceHuai'anJiangsu 223001, China
  • Received:2025-08-20 Revised:2026-01-15 Online:2026-11-15 Published:2026-09-20
  • Contact: SUN Zhongming,E-mail:10668201@qq.com;GE Hengkang,E-mail:49912468@qq.com

Abstract:

Objective To explore the health impact of heatwaves on resident deaths in Huai'an City and assess the excess death risk attributable to heatwave events. Methods Daily death counts,meteorological data,and air pollutant data were collected in Huai'an City from 2017 to 2024. A stratified case-crossover study was used to analyze the health impact of heatwaves on resident deaths,and a health risk assessment model was applied to evaluate the excess deaths attributable to heatwaves. Results From 2017 to 2024,there were 31 heatwave events in Huai'an City,totaling 339 days. Generalized additive models(GAM) showed that compared with non-heatwave periods,heatwaves led to increases in non-accidental deaths,circulatory system deaths,and respiratory system deaths from 2017 to 2024 by 5.198%,8.757%,and 13.333%,respectively. The numbers of non-accidental deaths,circulatory system deaths,and respiratory system deaths attributable to heatwave events were 1 402,929 and 423 cases,respectively. Stratified analyses indicated that heatwaves posed a higher death risk for females and elderly people aged ≥75 years. Conclusion Heatwaves in Huai'an City significantly increase the death risk of residents,with a more pronounced effect on patients with respiratory diseases. Females and elderly people aged ≥75 years are vulnerable groups to heatwaves.

Key words: Heatwave, Death, Time-stratified case-crossover study, Generalized additive models, Health risk assessment

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