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Heat Stress Hospitalizations

Summary Indicator Report Data View Options

New Mexico Heat Stress Hospitalizations by County, Age-adjusted Rate per 100,000, May-September,

Why Is This Important?

Over the last 71 years (1950-2021), maximum daily temperatures in New Mexico increased (data not shown). State land weather station data analysis using time series models reveal that high temperatures increased 0.04 degrees Fahrenheit each year during this period, for a total increase of 3 degrees Fahrenheit. This trend of increasing temperature is likely to continue, based on projections of the future climate of New Mexico derived from global and regional climate models with the assumption that global anthropogenic (human caused) emissions of greenhouse gases will continue to increase. Specifically, these climate models project the following changes in New Mexico climate over the next fifty to one hundred years: a) average air temperature will become substantially warmer by 6-12 degrees Fahrenheit (3.3-6.7 degrees Celsius) and b) there will be more episodes of extreme heat, heat waves and fewer episodes of extreme cold. As temperatures increase, the public health concern is heat-related illness. Anyone, regardless of age, sex, or health status may develop heat-related illness if engaged in intense physical activity and/or exposed to environmental heat, even in the dry environmental conditions of New Mexico. Humans maintain core body temperature in a narrow range around 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit). The normal physiologic response to rising core body temperature is to sweat and circulate blood closer to the skin surface to increase cooling. When heat exposure exceeds our capacity to cool and the core body temperature continues to rise, a range of heat-related adverse health effects can result. Although some of these signs and symptoms, such as heat-related cramps, syncope, and edema are relatively minor and readily treatable, they should be used as warning signs to immediately remove the affected individual from the exposure, in other words, get out of the heat. Other conditions such as heat exhaustion may progress to heat stroke, the most serious form of heat-related disease, which if untreated can result in death or permanent neurological impairment. The New Mexico Environmental Public Health Tracking Program (NMTracking) develops, monitors, and analyzes indicators of heat stress to document changes in morbidity and mortality over place and time due to heat, monitor vulnerable areas and New Mexico communities, and to inform and evaluate the results of local climate-adaptation strategies and, extreme heat warning systems. One of the heat stress morbidity indicators that is tracked are hospitalizations for heat stress.

Definition

Heat stress is defined as a constellation of explicit effects of hot weather on the body, including heat stroke, and sunstroke (hyperthermia), heat syncope or collapse, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, heat fatigue, heat edema, and other unspecified clinical effects attributed to excessive heat exposure. Cases of heat stress are classified as any primary or other diagnosis included in the rage 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 or ICD-10-CMs T67, X30, or X32 (excluding cases with a code W92). However, cases with a code of E900.1 (man-made source of heat) anywhere in the patient medical record are excluded.

Data Sources

  • New Mexico Population Estimates: University of New Mexico, Geospatial and Population Studies (GPS) Program.
    (http://gps.unm.edu/)
  • Hospital Inpatient Discharge Data, New Mexico Department of Health.

How the Measure is Calculated

Numerator:Number of inpatients treated between May 1 and September 30, inclusive, for each year, where heat stress is any primary or other diagnosis.
Denominator:Midyear New Mexico resident population.

Other Objectives

CDC Environmental Public Health Tracking, Nationally Consistent Data and Measures (EPHT NCDM)

Indicator Data Last Updated On 11/09/2023, Published on 12/13/2023
Environmental Health Epidemiology Bureau, Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, Epidemiology and Response Division, New Mexico Department of Health, 1190 S. Saint Francis Drive, Suite 1300, Santa Fe, NM 87505, Srikanth Paladugu, Bureau Chief, Srikanth.Paladugu@doh.nm.gov, or Stephanie Moraga-McHaley, Environmental Epidemiologist Supervisor, Stephanie.Moraga-Mc@doh.nm.gov