Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Sensitivity To Heat: A Comparative Study Of Phoenix, Arizona And Chicago, Illinois (2003-2006), Wen-Ching Chuang, Patricia Gober, Winston T. L. Chow, Jay Golden

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Research on how heat impacts human health has increased as climate change threatens to raise temperatures to new extremes. Excessive heat exposure increases death rates, as well as rates of nonfatal, adverse health outcomes. This study used the negative binomial regression model to examine the relationship between daily maximum temperature, heat index, and heat-related emergency calls in Phoenix, Arizona and Chicago, Illinois, from 2003 to 2006. Using model results, we estimated call volumes in a warmer climate, with temperature increase from 1 to 5.5 C. We found that: (1) heat-stress calls increase sharply when the temperature exceeds about 35 C …