Establishment of a surveillance system for heat-related mortality in Hesse (HEAT II)
Project management: Prof. Dr. Henny Annette Grewe (contact person)
Prof. Dr. Beate Blättner
Cooperation partner: Dr. Helmut Uphoff, Hessian State Examination and Research Office in Public Health (HLPUG)
Research assistant: Hendrik Siebert, M.Sc. Public Health
Research assistant: Caroline Wöhl (B.Sc. Health Management, stud. M.Sc. Public Health)
Project funding: Hessian State Agency for Nature Conservation, Environment and Geology (HLNUG)
Duration: 11/2014 - 10/2017
Empirical findings on the relationship between climatic conditions and health, especially between high outdoor temperatures and mortality, are numerous: among the elderly and other vulnerable groups, a number of deaths can be observed at high temperatures that regularly exceeds the statistically expected number. Due to the increasing frequency and duration of hot spells, a number of European countries, including France, Portugal and Belgium, have developed procedures that allow for a statistical assessment of the consequences of climatic conditions on mortality as close in time and as accurate as possible to the day. Therefore, one recommendation from the scientific evaluation of the existing heat warning system in Hesse (HEAT project, duration 2009-2012) was to develop a procedure for the continuous long-term monitoring of excess mortality caused by heat events in Hesse to supplement the existing measures. The project aims to provide the statistical-analytical basis for this.
Publication of methodology and results:
Siebert H; Uphoff H; Grewe HA: Monitoring heat-related mortality in Hesse. Bundesgesundheitsbl (2019) 62: 580-588. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00103-019-02941-x.