Heatstroke-related ambulance dispatch risk before and during COVID-19 pandemic: Subgroup analysis by age, severity, and incident place

Random forest analysis of the relative importance of meteorological indicators for heatstroke cases in Japan based on the degree of severity and place of occurrence

Heatstroke is a serious health concern in Japan. To reduce heatstroke risk, the government of Japan implemented the "Heatstroke Alert" nationwide in 2021, employing the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) as a criterion. Although the WBGT is a useful meteorological indicator for assessing the risk of heatstroke, other important meteorological indicators must also be investigated. Therefore, using a random forest approach, this study analyzed the relative importance of several meteorological indicators, including those representing heat acclimatization, for each of the 47 Japanese prefectures. Using the generalized linear model, important meteorological indicators were employed as explanatory variables in the heatstroke prediction model to determine the predictive meteorological indicator. Heatstroke cases were evaluated separately by the degree of severity and the place of occurrence. The results showed that the relative temperature (RelTemp), which represents heat acclimatization and was calculated considering past temperature history, was the most predictive (i.e., provided the best goodness of fit) concerning the degree of severity, place of occurrence, and prefectures. RelTemp can be a complementary indicator of WBGT in countries and regions such as Japan, where seasonal differences in heat acclimatization must be considered. In addition, the findings of this study contribute to the development of a more accurate assessment of heatstroke risk.

The relationship between physical activity and stroke in middle-aged and elderly people after controlling demography variables, health status and lifestyle variables

The increase in the number of stroke patients in China brain has led to the decline in quality of life and the burden of family economic conditions. This study explored the relationship between stroke and physical activity (PA) in middle-aged and elderly Chinese after controlling Demography, health status and lifestyle variables, providing a new basis for the prevention and treatment of stroke in the elderly. The data is from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal study. Five thousand seventy people over 50 years old with complete information on PA, stroke, Demography, health status and lifestyle were included in the analysis. SPSS 27.0 software was used to conduct Z test, logistic regression analysis and linear hierarchical regression analysis on the collected data. The results showed that high-level physical exercise was significantly negatively correlated with stroke (P < .05). After adjusting Demographics characteristics (gender, registered residence type, education level, age, widowhood or not), health status characteristics and living habits (arthritis, bad mood, asthma, hyperlipidemia, disability, memory disease, health self-evaluation, hypertension, smoking, depression), There was still statistical significance (P < .05) between PA and stroke. This study concludes that middle-aged and elderly people with high PA have a lower risk of stroke. In the process of preventing and improving stroke symptoms in the elderly, it is important to maintain high PA while also paying attention to health management and a healthy lifestyle.