文章基本信息

标题：Heat-Related Fatalities in North Carolina
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作者：Maria C. Mirabelli ; David B. Richardson
期刊名称：American journal of public health
印刷版ISSN：0090-0036
出版年度：2005
卷号：95
期号：4
页码：635-637
DOI：10.2105/AJPH.2004.042630
语种：English
出版社：American Public Health Association
摘要：We used medical examiner’s records to identify heat-related fatalities (N=161) that occurred during the period January 1, 1977, to December 31, 2001, in North Carolina. Estimates of the population at risk were derived from US census data. Annual fatality rates increased with increases in average summer temperature and with the number of days per year at 90°F or higher. Of the occupational heat-related fatalities (n=40), 45% occurred among farm laborers, many of whom died unnoticed and without medical attention. In the southern United States, residents are presumably acclimatized to hot weather and high humidity. However, previous research has found that heat-related mortality has been an important cause of death among agricultural laborers, with most of these heat-related deaths occurring among young African Americans. 1 In recent years, many Latino workers have entered the agricultural industry. Although the consequences of this transition have not been systematically investigated, several heat-related deaths have been reported recently among Latino farm laborers in North Carolina, 2, 3 and these reports suggested that a description of heat-related mortality in the southern United States could improve our understanding of the hazard of heat stress in this population.