The immediate effects of winter storms and power outages on multiple health outcomes and the time windows of vulnerability

Shao Lin; Wangjian Zhang; Scott Sheridan; Melanie Mongillo; Stephen DiRienzo; Neil A Stuart; Eric K Stern; Guthrie Birkhead; Guanghui Dong; Shaowei Wu; Shahriar Chowdhury; Michael J Primeau; Yuantao Hao; Xiaobo X Romeiko

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2021.110924

The immediate effects of winter storms and power outages on multiple health outcomes and the time windows of vulnerability

Environ Res. 2021 May:196:110924. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.110924. Epub 2021 Mar 6.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York, Rensselaer, NY, USA. Electronic address: slin@albany.edu.
² Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York, Rensselaer, NY, USA.
³ Department of Geography, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA.
⁴ Department of Health Policy, Management and Behavior, University at Albany, State University of New York, Rensselaer, NY, USA.
⁵ National Weather Service, Albany, NY, USA.
⁶ College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cyber-Security, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA.
⁷ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University at Albany, State University of New York, Rensselaer, NY, USA.
⁸ Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
⁹ Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
¹⁰ New York State Department of Public Service, Albany, NY, USA.
¹¹ Office of Health Emergency Preparedness, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY, USA.
¹² Department of Medical Statistics, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.

PMID: 33689823
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.110924

Abstract

Background: While most prior research has focused on extreme heat, few assessed the immediate health effects of winter storms and associated power outages (PO), although severe storms have become more frequent. This study evaluates the joint and independent health effects of winter storms and PO, snow versus ice-storm, effects by time window (peak timing, winter/transitional months) and the impacts on critical care indicators including numbers of comorbidity, procedure, length of stay and cost.

Methods: We use distributed lag nonlinear models to assess the impacts of winter storm/PO on hospitalizations due to cardiovascular, lower respiratory diseases (LRD), respiratory infections, food/water-borne diseases (FWBD) and injuries in New York State on 0-6 lag days following storm/PO compared with non-storm/non-PO periods (references), while controlling for time-varying factors and PM_2.5. The storm-related hospitalizations are described by time window. We also calculate changes in critical care indicators between the storm/PO and control periods.

Results: We found the joint effects of storm/PO are the strongest (risk ratios (RR) range: 1.01-1.90), followed by that of storm alone (1.02-1.39), but not during PO alone. Ice storms have stronger impacts (RRs: 1.04-3.15) than snowstorms (RRs: 1.03-2.21). The storm/PO-health associations, which occur immediately, and some last a whole week, are stronger in FWBD, October/November, and peak between 3:00-8:00 p.m. Comorbidity and medical costs significantly increase after storm/PO.

Conclusion: Winter storms increase multiple diseases, comorbidity and medical costs, especially when accompanied by PO or ice storms. Early warnings and prevention may be critical in the transitional months and afternoon rush hours.

Keywords: Critical care indicators; Health risk; Power outage; Winter storm.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Cyclonic Storms*
Hospitalization
Humans
New York
Outcome Assessment, Health Care
Seasons
Snow*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

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