e-Article
Extreme weather events and death based on temperature and CO2 emission – A global retrospective study in 77 low-, middle- and high-income countries from 1999 to 2018
Document Type
article
Source
Preventive Medicine Reports, Vol 28, Iss , Pp 101846- (2022)
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
2211-3355
Abstract
Due to rising temperatures and CO2 emissions, climate change has become one of the most important global issues. We described the relationship between extreme weather-related events and death, globally, from 1999 through 2018. We used data from the emergency events database of the Université Catholique de Louvain. We also categorized the countries’ income according to the World Bank GDP and we used the CO2 emission levels data from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center to link the GDP and CO2 emissions to years of extreme weather conditions in each country. We conducted descriptive and Poisson Regression analysis to analyze the data. A total of 77 countries reported 425 extreme weather-related events from1999 through 2018. Mortality related events were highest in middle-income countries due to severe winter conditions (N = 2,020) and cold-waves (N = 70,972). The total number of recorded deaths due to heat waves was highest in high-income countries (N = 84,344). Furthermore, the number of deaths in high-income countries, compared to low-income countries, was five-fold higher (IRR 5.18; 95%CI 4.58; 5.85, p