![[ Visit Client Website ]](images/banner.jpg)
BACKGROUND: To identify New Mexico geographic regions' extreme heat events, monitor vulnerable communities for heat stress, and to inform local climate-adaptation strategies.
METHODS: New Mexico Environmental Public health Tracking Network defines heat stress as a constellation of explicit effects of hot weather on the body. Cases of heat stress are classified as any diagnosis included in the range of the International Classification of Diseases, 9th edition, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) 992.0-992.9, or cause of injury code in the range E900.0 or E900.9. Cases with a code of E900.1 (man-made source of heat) are excluded. Emergency department (ED) visit data for heat stress were collected for 2008-2010 from non-federal licensed facilities in New Mexico. The number, crude rate, and age-adjusted rate of visits for heat stress per 100,000 population were analyzed by New Mexico health regions. These geographic regions were also characterized by the daily estimates of maximum temperature to link temperature to health outcomes.
RESULTS: Overall, June and July were the months with the highest burden of heat stress ED visits. The 30-year (1971-2000) 95th percentile daily maximum temperature was highest for the Southeast and Southwest (1050F and 1030F, respectively). The 95th percentile daily maximum temperature for the Northeast was 990F and for the Northwest and Metro was 980F. By health region, the Southeast and Southwest had the highest rate of ED visits. New Mexico males were more likely to be treated in EDs from heat stress than females; however, this difference was statistically significant only among residents of the Southeastern Region, as compared to the other regions. Within the Southeastern region, there was a higher rate of ED heat stress visits that was statistically significant among older residents (15-44 years of age and 45-64 years of age) compared to those residents under age 15.
CONCLUSIONS: In New Mexico, the highest burden of ED heat stress rates occurs at temperatures at or above the 30-year 95th percentile thresholds predominantly in June and July. Medical providers should anticipate heat stress encounters at or above these thresholds, most likely during May-September. Should temperature trends continue, an increase in ED visits is likely. Southeast and Southwest residents may not be fully aware of the high risk of heat stress, especially in June and July. Therefore, increased education and outreach efforts may be warranted in those communities as well as adaptation strategies.