Associations between ambient temperature and cause-specific respiratory emergency room visits in Lanzhou, China: A...

Little is known on the potential impact of temperature on emergency room (ER) visits of total and cause-specific respiratory diseases (RD) including upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), Pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Bronchitis, especially for patients in the areas of the semi-arid Northwest region. This study investigated the impact of ambient temperature on the ER risk of total and cause-specific RD in Lanzhou, China from 2013 to 2019. A quasi-Poisson generalized additive model (GAM) and a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) were used to examine the association between ambient temperature and daily ER visits for total and cause-specific RD. Then we conducted stratified analysis by gender and age groups. The results showed that temperature-related ER risks varied by age, sex, and disease. Extremely cold temperatures (-6.7 °C) resulted in an increase (relative risk (RR) = 1.823, 95% CI: 1.719, 1.932) in ED visits for total RD, while extremely hot temperatures (27.9 °C) led to an increase (RR = 1.100, 95% CI: 1.054, 1.148) compared to the median temperature of 12.9 °C. We found that low temperature increased the risks of ER visits for total and cause-specific RD, whereas only significant risks for high temperature on total RD, URTI, and Bronchitis were observed. We also found that children (≤ 14 years) were more susceptible to extreme temperatures. Our findings can provide targeted recommendations for relevant protective and preventive measures at both practical and policy levels.