CDC Authors Report 28,000 Heat Stress Hospitalizations in 20 States During 2001-2010
The incidence of them in these reporting states increased by 2-5 percent during that period.
A paper published in CDC's MMWR documents the increased incidence of Americans being hospitalized because of heat stress illnesses from 2001 to 2010. Two authors from the Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects, National Center for Environmental Health, Ekta Choudhary, Ph.D., and Ambarish Vaidyanathan, Ph.D., wrote the paper, which analyzed data from the Environmental Public Health Tracking Program. It receives annual hospitalization discharge data.
They report that 28,133 heat stress illness hospitalizations occurred in 20 states participating in the tracking program during the period, with most of those hospitalized being males and persons age 65 and older. And the incidence of these cases in those reporting states increased by 2-5 percent during that period.
A chart in the paper indicates Missouri had the highest incidence rate in 2010, 6.7 per 100,000 residents—higher than Florida (4.2), Louisiana (4.8), Kansas (4.2), South Carolina (5.5), and California (1.3). The states' rates fluctuated during the 10-year period, but they were rising in 2009-2010, with all but Louisiana's rate being higher in 2010 than in any other year during the period, it shows. But despite its low incidence rate, California reported the large number of heat stress illness cases for the entire period: 5,385.
Their report is based on data provided by tracking partners from California, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, New York City, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.