Landry M, D’Souza R, Moss S, Chang HH, Ebelt S, Wilson L, Scovronick N. The Association Between Ambient Temperature and Snakebite in Georgia, USA: A Case-Crossover Study.
GEOHEALTH 2023;
7:e2022GH000781. [PMID:
37441711 PMCID:
PMC10334880 DOI:
10.1029/2022gh000781]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2022] [Revised: 04/17/2023] [Accepted: 04/27/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023]
Abstract
The World Health Organization has identified snakebite envenoming as a highest priority neglected tropical disease, yet there is a dearth of epidemiologic research on environmental risk factors, including outdoor temperature. Temperature may affect snakebites through human behavior or snake behavior; snakes are ectotherms, meaning outdoor temperatures influence their internal body temperature and thus their behavior. Here we investigate the relationship between short-term temperature and snakebites in Georgia, one of the most biodiverse US states in terms of herpetofauna. We acquired emergency department (ED) visit data for Georgia between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2020. Visits for venomous and non-venomous snakebites were identified using diagnosis codes. For comparison, we also considered visits for non-snake (e.g., insects, spiders, scorpions) envenomation. Daily meteorology from the Daymet 1 km product was linked to patient residential ZIP codes. We applied a case-crossover design to estimate associations of daily maximum temperature and snakebite ED visits. During the 7-year study period, there were 3,908 visits for venomous snakebites, 1,124 visits for non-venomous bites and 65,187 visits for non-snake envenomation. Across the entire period, a 1°C increase in same-day maximum temperature was associated with a 5.6% (95%CI: 4.0-7.3) increase in the odds of venomous snakebite and a 5.8% (95%CI: 3.0-8.8) increase in non-venomous snakebite. Associations were strongest in the spring. We also observed a positive and significant (p < 0.05) association for non-snake envenomation, albeit slightly smaller and more consistent across seasons compared to those for snakebites.
Collapse