The impact of temperature and precipitation on all-infectious-, bacterial-, and viral-diarrheal disease in Taiwan

Gerry Andhikaputra; Amir Sapkota; Yu-Kai Lin; Ta-Chien Chan; Chuansi Gao; Li-Wen Deng; Yu-Chun Wang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160850

The impact of temperature and precipitation on all-infectious-, bacterial-, and viral-diarrheal disease in Taiwan

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Mar 1:862:160850. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160850. Epub 2022 Dec 13.

Authors

Gerry Andhikaputra¹, Amir Sapkota², Yu-Kai Lin³, Ta-Chien Chan⁴, Chuansi Gao⁵, Li-Wen Deng¹, Yu-Chun Wang⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, 200 Chung-Pei Road, Zhongli 320, Taiwan.
² Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Maryland School of Public Health, United States of America.
³ Department of Health and Welfare, University of Taipei College of City Management, 101 Zhongcheng Road Sec. 2, Taipei 111, Taiwan.
⁴ Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Road, Section 2, Taipei, Taiwan; Institute of Public Health, School of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ Division of Ergonomics and Aerosol Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, Lund 223 62, Sweden.
⁶ Department of Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, 200 Chung-Pei Road, Zhongli 320, Taiwan; Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Road, Section 2, Nankang, Taipei 11529, Taiwan. Electronic address: ycwang@cycu.edu.tw.

PMID: 36526204
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160850

Abstract

Background: The ongoing climate change will elevate the incidence of diarrheal in 2030-2050 in Asia, including Taiwan. This study investigated associations between meteorological factors (temperature, precipitation) and burden of age-cause-specific diarrheal diseases in six regions of Taiwan using 13 years of (2004-2016) population-based data.

Methods: Weekly cause-specific diarrheal and meteorological data were obtained from 2004 to 2016. We used distributed lag non-linear model to assess age (under five, all age) and cause-specific (viral, bacterial) diarrheal disease burden associated with extreme high (99th percentile) and low (5th percentile) of climate variables up to lag 8 weeks in six regions of Taiwan. Random-effects meta-analysis was used to pool these region-specific estimates.

Results: Extreme low temperature (15.30 °C) was associated with risks of all-infectious and viral diarrhea, with the highest risk for all-infectious diarrheal found at lag 8 weeks among all age [Relative Risk (RR): 1.44; 95 % Confidence Interval (95 % CI): 1.24-1.67]. The highest risk of viral diarrheal infection was observed at lag 2 weeks regardless the age. Extreme high temperature (30.18 °C) was associated with risk of bacterial diarrheal among all age (RR: 1.07; 95 % CI: 1.02-1.13) at lag 8 weeks. Likewise, extreme high precipitation (290 mm) was associated with all infectious diarrheal, with the highest risk observed for bacterial diarrheal among population under five years (RR: 2.77; 95 % CI: 1.60-4.79) at lag 8 weeks. Extreme low precipitation (0 mm) was associated with viral diarrheal in all age at lag 1 week (RR: 1.08; 95 % CI: 1.01-1.15)].

Conclusion: In Taiwan, extreme low temperature is associated with an increased burden of viral diarrheal, while extreme high temperature and precipitation elevated burden of bacterial diarrheal. This distinction in cause-specific and climate-hazard specific diarrheal disease burden underscore the importance of incorporating differences in public health preparedness measures designed to enhance community resilience against climate change.

Keywords: Climate change; Dlnm; Extreme weather; Infectious diarrhea.

Publication types

Meta-Analysis

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Cold Temperature*
Diarrhea* / epidemiology
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Risk
Taiwan / epidemiology
Temperature