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6.16.1. Summary
x
Rates of chronic disease and psychological distress are higher in Western Adelaide than across
Greater Adelaide.
x
Rates of chronic disease are particularly high in Port Adelaide Enfield.
6.17. Health Outcomes in Heat Waves
To assist the preparation of the WARCCAP Stage One report, the Scientific Services division of the
Department for Health prepared a report that summarised health outcomes in heat wave events between
2001 and 2012. The data was based upon hospital admissions of residents from the entire Study Area
which was defined in terms of the three member Councils. For the purposes of this report, the
Department of Health defined heat waves as three or more days where the temperature exceeds 35
degrees Celsius. This definition results in more heat waves being declared each year than the Bureau of
Meteorology definition, however has been adopted due to the changes in hospital admissions observed
after this point.
The data, summarised in
Table 6.5
, shows that in the Study Area, total hospital admissions overall were
lower in heat wave events, while emergency department presentations were higher. Of these emergency
department presentations, heat-related presentations were 4.3 times higher in heat wave events, while
renal health related presentations were 15% higher, and mental health related presentations were 8.2%
higher.
Average daily mortality during heat waves was 7.7 compared to 7.4 deaths during non-heat waves,
indicating that daily deaths are slightly higher during heat wave events (this difference is not considered
statistically significant). It should also be noted that there are temperature thresholds for when mortality
starts to dramatically increase in metropolitan Adelaide (one study
22
has identified maximum
temperatures of at least 43
o
C for 3 or more consecutive days as one such trigger).
This indicates that heat-related, mental health and renal disease outcomes are most affected by heat
wave events. These results, in general, are quite similar to the findings for Adelaide as a whole,
consistent with the literature regarding the physiological, age-related, behavioral and cognitive factors that
are known to contribute to health problems during extreme heat.
With the predicted increase in heat wave events (see Section 4.7.4.3) it is reasonable to assume that
hospital admissions and emergency department presentations associated with heat wave events will
increase in the years ahead.
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Heat Health Relationships for the Population of Adelaide, Final Report, October 2010, University of Adelaide and SA Health.
