Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Environmental Health and Exposome
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1492523
This article is part of the Research Topic Evaluating Public Health Strategies for Climate Change: Risk and Opportunities View all articles

The temporal change of heat exposure and adaptation capacity in Chinese adults from 1994 to 2023

Provisionally accepted
Xiaohui Ji Xiaohui Ji Haomin Tan Haomin Tan Shaoli Huang Shaoli Huang Zhongguo Huang Zhongguo Huang Jianxiong Hu Jianxiong Hu Guanhao He Guanhao He Fengrui Jing Fengrui Jing Ziqian Lin Ziqian Lin Mengen Guo Mengen Guo Tao Liu Tao Liu Wenjun Ma Wenjun Ma *
  • Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Studies have found decreased heat effect and increased minimum mortality temperature (MMT) during the past decades. However, it is unclear whether heat exposure or temperature adaptation play an important role in this change. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. Data were collected from 3094 respondents aged 31-64 years old based on online questionnaire. The Cochran-Armitage test for trend and Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel (CMH) test were used for the difference between three decades. The Chi square test was employed to compare the difference between different demographic subgroups during 2014-2023. Multivariate logistic regression model was used to analyze the risk factors of air conditioner ownership. Results: Most respondents (94.6%) thought ambient temperature had been increasing, and 57.0% people thought climate change impacted their health. Long duration outdoors work (≥4 hours) decreased from 36.01%, 30.93% to 24.53%(Z=-9.80, P<0.01) and bicycling/walking decreased from 62.3%, 27.9%, to 9.7% (CMH value=156.40, P<0.01) significantly during the last three decades. Temperature adaptation capacity increased with air conditioner ownership rates increasing from 25.40%, 57.63% to 81.51% at home (Z=-44.35, P<0.01) and from 22.24%, 57.47% to 80.51% in the office/school (Z=-45.95, P<0.01), and the elderly, women, people with low income, outdoor work, low education, and people from northern China had lower air conditioner ownership rates. The frequency of air conditioner usage when felt hot also escalated significantly both at home(from 42.6%, 54.9, to 63.4%，CMH value = 156.40, P < 0.0001)) and in the office/school(from 61.8%, 63.1% to 72.7%，CMH value = 65.29, P < 0.0001)) during the same periods. Conclusions: Our study found that most people perceived climate change and changed behaviors to adapt to heat. Heat exposure significantly decreased and temperature adaptation capacity significantly increased during the last decades. The findings implied that heat-related health risk and burden driven by global warming may not increase in the future.

    Keywords: ambient temperature, adaptation capacity, Global Warming, health risk, The temporal change

    Received: 07 Sep 2024; Accepted: 27 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ji, Tan, Huang, Huang, Hu, He, Jing, Lin, Guo, Liu and Ma. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Wenjun Ma, Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.