Temporal and spatial heterogeneity of indoor and outdoor temperatures and their relationship with thermal sensation from a global perspective

Yuchen Hou; Bin Cao; Yingxin Zhu; Hui Zhang; Liu Yang; Lin Duanmu; Zhiwei Lian; Yufeng Zhang; Yongchao Zhai; Zhaojun Wang; Xiang Zhou; Jingchao Xie

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2023.108174

Temporal and spatial heterogeneity of indoor and outdoor temperatures and their relationship with thermal sensation from a global perspective

Environ Int. 2023 Sep:179:108174. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108174. Epub 2023 Aug 26.

Authors

Yuchen Hou¹, Bin Cao², Yingxin Zhu³, Hui Zhang⁴, Liu Yang⁵, Lin Duanmu⁶, Zhiwei Lian⁷, Yufeng Zhang⁸, Yongchao Zhai⁵, Zhaojun Wang⁹, Xiang Zhou¹⁰, Jingchao Xie¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Building Science, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; Key Laboratory of Eco Planning & Green Building, Ministry of Education (Tsinghua University), Beijing, China.
² Department of Building Science, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; Key Laboratory of Eco Planning & Green Building, Ministry of Education (Tsinghua University), Beijing, China. Electronic address: caobin@tsinghua.edu.cn.
³ Department of Building Science, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Quality Evaluation and Control (Tsinghua University), Beijing, China.
⁴ Center for the Built Environment, University of California, Berkeley, USA.
⁵ College of Architecture, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, China.
⁶ School of Civil Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China.
⁷ Department of Architecture, School of Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
⁸ School of Architecture, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
⁹ School of Architecture, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China.
¹⁰ School of Mechanical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
¹¹ Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Built Environment and Energy Efficient Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China.

PMID: 37660634
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108174

Abstract

People spend most of their time indoors. However, indoor temperature and individual thermal exposure are generally not considered in epidemiological studies of temperature and health. Based on the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) RP-884 Database, the ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II and the Chinese Thermal Comfort Database, this study first explored the relationship between outdoor temperature, indoor temperature and thermal sensation from a global perspective. Moreover, the potential influence of spatiotemporal heterogeneity on health studies was explored. A breakpoint was found at approximately 11.5 °C in the segmented regression of indoor and outdoor temperature, and the slope of the curve was greater when outdoor temperature was above the breakpoint (n = 67,896). Based on multi-group propensity score matching (PSM) and generalizedadditivemodels (GAM), spatiotemporal heterogeneity was found in the relationship between indoor and outdoor temperatures after adjusting for building type and year. Furthermore, the relationship between indoor temperature and thermal sensation was influenced by the outdoor temperature. This study highlights the importance of considering indoor temperature or individual thermal exposure in temperature-related health studies.

Keywords: Health effects; Indoor temperature; Outdoor temperature; Thermal comfort; Thermal sensation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Built Environment*
Databases, Factual
Humans
Internationality
Sensation
Temperature*