Gender inequalities in heat-related mortality in the Czech Republic

0573607 - ÚFA 2024 RIV DE eng J - Článek v odborném periodiku
Vésier, Ch. - Urban, Aleš
Gender inequalities in heat-related mortality in the Czech Republic.
International Journal of Biometeorology. Roč. 67, č. 8 (2023), s. 1373-1385. ISSN 0020-7128. E-ISSN 1432-1254
Grant CEP: GA ČR(CZ) GA22-24920S
Institucionální podpora: RVO:68378289
Klíčová slova: Mortality * Sex and gender inequalities * Heat stress * DLNM * Czech Republic
Obor OECD: Climatic research
Impakt faktor: 3.2, rok: 2022
Způsob publikování: Open access
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00484-023-02507-2

It is acknowledged that climate change exacerbates social inequalities, and women have been reported as more vulnerable to heat than men in many studies in Europe, including the Czech Republic. This study aimed at investigating the associations between daily temperature and mortality in the Czech Republic in the light of a sex and gender perspective, taking into account other factors such as age and marital status. Daily mean temperature and individual mortality data recorded during the five warmest months of the year (from May to September) over the period 1995–2019 were used to fit a quasi-Poisson regression model, which included a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) to account for the delayed and non-linear effects of temperature on mortality. The heat-related mortality risks obtained in each population group were expressed in terms of risk at the 99th percentile of summer temperature relative to the minimum mortality temperature. Women were found generally more at risk to die because of heat than men, and the difference was larger among people over 85 years old. Risks among married people were lower than risks among single, divorced, and widowed people, while risks in divorced women were significantly higher than in divorced men. This is a novel finding which highlights the potential role of gender inequalities in heat-related mortality. Our study underlines the relevance of including a sex and gender dimension in the analysis of the impacts of heat on the population and advocates the development of gender-based adaptation policies to extreme heat.
Trvalý link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0344226