Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T08:51:44.879Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Burnt by the sun: disaggregating temperature’s current and future impact on mortality in the Turkish context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2021

Ilhan Can Özen*
Affiliation:
FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, United States; Department of Economics, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.

Abstract

Our study plans to quantify the effect of higher temperatures on different critical Turkish health outcomes mainly to chart future developments and to identify locations in Turkey that may be potential vulnerable hotspots. The general structure of the temperature mortality function was estimated with different fixed-level effects, with a specific focus on the mortality effect of maximum apparent temperature. Regional models were fitted to pinpoint the thresholds where the temperature–mortality relation changes, thus investigating whether the thresholds are determined nationally or regionally. The future patterns were estimated by extrapolating from future temperature trends: analyzing possible future mortality trends under the restricting assumption of minimal acclimation. Using the fixed effect regression structure, social and developmental variables acting as heat effect modifiers were also identified. In the largest dataset, the initial fixed effect regression specification supports the hypothesis summarized by the U-shaped relationship between temperature and mortality. This is a first corroboration for Turkish climate and health research. In addition, intermediation effects were substantiated for the level of urbanization and population density, and the human development and health development within provinces. Regional heterogeneity is substantiated by the mortality–temperature relationship and the significant threshold deviations from the national average.

Type
Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agrawal, Arun, McSweeney, Catherine, and Perrin, Nicolas. “Local Institutions and Climate Change Adaptation.” Social Development Notes No. 113. Washington DC: World Bank Group, 2008.Google Scholar
Arbuthnott, Katherine, Shakoor, Hajat, Clare, Heaviside, and Sotiris, Vardoulakis. “What Is Cold-Related Mortality? A Multi-disciplinary Perspective to Inform Climate Change Impact Assessments.Environment International 121, no. 1 (2018): 119–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arnfield, John A.Two Decades of Urban Climate Research: A Review of Turbulence, Exchanges of Energy and Water, and the Urban Heat Island.International Journal of Climatology 23, no. 1 (2003): 126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Astrom, Daniel Oudin, Forsberg, Bertil, and Rocklov, Joacim. “Heat Wave Impact on Morbidity and Mortality in the Elderly Population: A Review of Recent Studies.Maturitas 69, no. 2 (2011): 99105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aykır, Dilek. “Türkiye’de Ekstrem Sıcaklık İndislerinin Eğilimlerinde Şehirleşmenin Etkisi.Türk Coğrafya Dergisi 69 (2017): 4757.Google Scholar
Balaban, Osman. “A Matter of Capacity: Climate Change and the Urban Challenges for Turkey.New Perspectives on Turkey 56 (2017): 159–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ballester, Joan, Robine, Jean-Marie, Herrmann, François R., and Rodó, Xavier. “Long-Term Projections and Acclimatization Scenarios of Temperature-Related Mortality in Europe.” Nature Communications 2 (2011): 358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basu, Rupa, Dominici, Francesca, and Samet, Jonathan M.. “Temperature and Mortality among the Elderly in the United States: A Comparison of Epidemiologic Methods.” Epidemiology 16, no. 1 (2005): 58–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, James E., Marta, Blangiardo, Daniela, Fecht, Paul, Elliott, and Majid, Ezzati. “Vulnerability to the Mortality Effects of Warm Temperature in the Districts of England and Wales.Nature Climate Change 4 (2014): 269–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Can, Günay, Şahin, Ümit, Sayılı, Uğurcan, Dubé, Marjolaine, Kara, Beril, Acar, Hazal Cansu, İnan, Barış, et al.Excess Mortality in Istanbul during Extreme Heat Waves between 2013 and 2017.International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, no. 22 (2019): 4348.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chung, Uran, Jaeyeon, Choi, and Yun Jin, I.. “Urbanization Effect on the Observed Change in Mean Monthly Temperatures Between 1951–1980 and 1971–2000 in Korea.Climatic Change 66, no. 2 (2004): 127–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conti, Susanna, Paola, Meli, Giada, Minelli, Renata, Solimini, Virgilia, Toccaceli, Monica, Vichi, Carmen, Beltrano, and Luigi, Perini. “Epidemiologic Study of Mortality during the Summer 2003 Heat Wave in Italy.Environmental Research 98, no. 3 (2005): 390–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costello, Anthony, Mustafa, Abbas, Adriana, Allen, Sarah, Ball, Sarah, Bell, Richard, Bellamy, Sharon, Friel, et al.Managing the Health Effects of Climate Change: Lancet and University College London Institute for Global Health Commission.The Lancet 373, no. 9676 (2009): 1693–733.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Demirtaş, Meral. “High Impact Heat Waves over the Euro-Mediterranean Region and Turkey – in Concert with Atmospheric Blocking and Large Dynamical and Physical Anomalies.Anadolu University Journal of Science and Technology A – Applied Sciences and Engineering 18, no. 1 (2017): 97114.Google Scholar
Deschenes, Olivier. “Temperature, Human Health, and Adaptation: A Review of the Empirical Literature.Energy Economics 46 (2014): 606–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fujibe, Fumiaki. “Urban Warming in Japanese Cities and Its Relation to Climate Change Monitoring.International Journal of Climatology 31, no. 1 (2011): 162–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gasparrini, Antonio, Yuming, Guo, Masahiro, Hashizume, Eric, Lavigne, Antonella, Zanobetti, Joel, Schwartz, Aurelio, Tobias, et al.Mortality Risk Attributable to High and Low Ambient Temperature: A Multicountry Observational Study.The Lancet 386, no. 9991 (2015): 369–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greene, Scott, Kalkstein, Laurence S., Mills, David M., and Jason, Samenow. “An Examination of Climate Change on Extreme Heat Events and Climate–Mortality Relationships in Large US Cities.Weather, Climate, and Society 3, no. 4 (2011): 281–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hajat, Shakoor, Sari Kovats, R., and Kate, Lachowycz. “Heat-Related and Cold-Related Deaths in England and Wales: Who Is at Risk?Occupational and Environmental Medicine 64, no. 2 (2007): 93100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hayhoe, Katherine, Scott, Sheridan, Laurence, Kalkstein, and Scott, Greene. “Climate Change, Heat Waves, and Mortality Projections for Chicago.Journal of Great Lakes Research 36 (2010): 6573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Healy, John D.Excess Winter Mortality in Europe: A Cross Country Analysis Identifying Key Risk Factors.Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 57, no. 10 (2003): 784–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Honda, Yasushi, Michinori, Kabuto, Masaji, Ono, and Iwao, Uchiyama. “Determination of Optimum Daily Maximum Temperature Using Climate Data.Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine 12, no. 5 (2007): 209–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Honda, Yasushi, and Masaji, Ono. “Issues in Health Risk Assessment of Current and Future Heat Extremes.Global Health Action 2, no. 1 (2009): 2043.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hovdahl, Isabel. “Deadly Variation: The Effect of Temperature Variability on Mortality.EEA Conference Proceedings (2020): 158.Google Scholar
Hu, Kejia, Yuming, Guo, Stefan, Hochrainer-Stigler, Wei, Liu, Linda, See, Xuchao, Yang, Jieming, Zhong, et al.Evidence for Urban–Rural Disparity in Temperature–Mortality Relationships in Zhejiang Province, China.Environmental Health Perspectives 127, no. 3 (2019): 037001–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huang, Cunrui, Adrian Gerard, Barnett, Xiaoming, Wang, Pavla, Vaneckova, Gerard, FitzGerald, and Shilu, Tong. “Projecting Future Heat-Related Mortality under Climate Change Scenarios: A Systematic Review.Environmental Health Perspectives 119, no. 12 (2011): 1681–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
IPCC. “The Fifth Assessment Report.” IPCC Report (2013): 159–203. www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar5/.Google Scholar
Keatinge, William R., Donaldson, Gavin C., Eduardo, Cordioli, Martina, Martinelli, Kunst, Anton E., Mackenbach, Johan P., Simo, Nayha, and Ilkka, Vuori. “Heat Related Mortality in Warm and Cold Regions of Europe: Observational Study.BMJ 321, no. 7262 (2000): 670–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klinenberg, Eric. Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leone, Michela, Daniela, D’Ippoliti, Manuela De, Sario, Antonis, Analitis, Bettina, Menne, Klea, Katsouyanni, De’Donato, Francesca K., et al.A Time Series Study on the Effects of Heat on Mortality and Evaluation of Heterogeneity into European and Eastern-Southern Mediterranean Cities: Results of EU CIRCE Project.Environmental Health 12 (2013): 55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lo, Eunice Y. T., Mitchell, Daniel M., Antonio, Gasparrini, Vicedo-Cabrera, Ana M., Ebi, Kristie L., Frumhoff, Peter C., Millar, Richard J., et al.Increasing Mitigation Ambition to Meet the Paris Agreement’s Temperature Goal Avoids Substantial Heat-Related Mortality in US Cities.Science Advances 5, no. 6 (2019): eaau4373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martens, Wolfram J.Climate Change, Thermal Stress and Mortality Changes.Social Science & Medicine 46, no. 3 (1998): 331–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGeehin, Michael A., and Mirabelli, Maria. “The Potential Impacts of Climate Variability and Change on Temperature-Related Morbidity and Mortality in the United States.Environmental Health Perspectives 109, suppl. 2 (2001): 185–9.Google ScholarPubMed
McMichael, Anthony J., Woodruff, Rosalie E., and Simon, Hales. “Climate Change and Human Health: Present and Future Risks.The Lancet 367, no. 9513 (2006): 859–69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oray, Nese C., Deniz, Oray, Ersin, Aksay, Ridvan, Atilla, and Basak, Bayram. “The Impact of a Heat Wave on Mortality in the Emergency Department.Medicine 2018, 97 (2018): 1315.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ozturk, Tugba, Zeynep Pelin, Ceber, Murat, Türkeş, and Levent Kurnaz, M.. “Projections of Climate Change in the Mediterranean Basin by Using Downscaled Global Climate Model Outputs.International Journal of Climatology 35, no. 14 (2015): 4276–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pisano, Gary P., Raffaella, Sadun, and Michele, Zanini. “Lessons from Italy’s Response to Coronavirus.” HO5ITU. Harvard Business Review March 27, 2020, https://hbr.org/2020/03/lessons-from-italys-response-to-coronavirus.Google Scholar
Ren, Guo-Yu.Urbanization as a Major Driver of Urban Climate Change.Advances in Climate Change Research 6, no. 1 (2015).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sampson, Natalie R., Gronlund, Carina J., Buxton, Miatta A., Linda, Catalano, White-Newsome, Jalonne L., Kathryn C. Conlon, Marie S. O’Neill, Sabrina McCormick, and Edith A. Parker. “Staying Cool in a Changing Climate: Reaching Vulnerable Populations during Heat Events.” Global Environmental Change 23, no. 2 (2013): 475–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shi, Liuhua, Itai, Kloog, Antonella, Zanobetti, Pengfei, Liu, and Schwartz, Joel D.. “Impacts of Temperature and Its Variability on Mortality in New England.Nature Climate Change 5, no. 11 (2015): 988–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Takahashi, Kiyoshi, Yasushi, Honda, and Seita, Emori. “Assessing Mortality Risk from Heat Stress Due to Global Warming.Journal of Risk Research 10, no. 3 (2007): 339–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toros, Hüseyin, Mohsen, Abbasnia, Mustafa, Sagdic, and Mete, Tayanç. “Long-Term Variations of Temperature and Precipitation in the Megacity of Istanbul for the Development of Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change.Advances in Meteorology 10, no. 1 (2017): 115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisskopf, Marc G., Anderson, Henry A., Seth, Foldy, Hanrahan, Lawrence P., Kathleen, Blair, Török, Thomas J., and Rumm, Peter D.. “Heat Wave Morbidity and Mortality, Milwaukee, Wis, 1999 vs 1995: An Improved Response?American Journal of Public Health 92, no. 5 (2002): 830–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Health Organization. World Health Report 2002: Reducing Risks, Promoting Healthy Life. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization Publications, 2002.Google Scholar
World Bank. Averting the Old Age Crisis: Policies to Protect the Old and Promote Growth: Summary. Washington, DC: World Bank Publications, 1994.Google Scholar
Xoplaki, E., González-Rouco, J. F., Luterbacher, J., and Wanner, H.. “Mediterranean Summer Air Temperature Variability and Its Connection to the Large-Scale Atmospheric Circulation and SSTs.Climate Dynamics 20, no. 7–8 (2003): 723–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yılmaz, Erkan. “Monthly Temperature, Temperature Difference Trends and Trends Groups in Turkey.Journal of Human Sciences 16, no. 2 (2019): 392427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar