Heat waves in southern cities of European Russia as a risk factor for premature mortality

Abstract

The article presents the results of the next stage of the investigation, which consists of evaluating the impact of heat waves on mortality in different natural and climate regions of the Russian Federation. Heat waves lasting five days or longer with ambient temperatures exceeding a threshold value specified based on the probabilistic characteristics of the long-term distributions of the average daily temperatures in Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd, Krasnodar, and Astrakhan were studied. A meta analysis of the risks for four southern cities showed statistically significant results of the aggregate risk estimates for almost all of the studied causes of death, among which the highest-risk values are specified for circulatory system disorders of people aged 65 or older.