Projecting Heat-Related Mortality Impacts Under a Changing Climate in the New York City Region

Item

Title
Projecting Heat-Related Mortality Impacts Under a Changing Climate in the New York City Region
Description
Objectives. We sought to project future impacts of climate change on summer heat-related premature deaths in the New York City metropolitan region.

Methods. Current and future climates were simulated over the northeastern United States with a global-to-regional climate modeling system. Summer heat-related premature deaths in the 1990s and 2050s were estimated by using a range of scenarios and approaches to modeling acclimatization (e.g., increased use of air conditioning, gradual physiological adaptation).

Results. Projected regional increases in heat-related premature mortality by the 2050s ranged from 47% to 95%, with a mean 70% increase compared with the 1990s. Acclimatization effects reduced regional increases in summer heat-related premature mortality by about 25%. Local impacts varied considerably across the region, with urban counties showing greater numbers of deaths and smaller percentage increases than less-urbanized counties.

Conclusions. Although considerable uncertainty exists in climate forecasts and future health vulnerability, the range of projections we developed suggests that by midcentury, acclimatization may not completely mitigate the effects of climate change in the New York City metropolitan region, which would result in an overall net increase in heat-related premature mortality.
Version of Record
Creator
Knowlton, Kim
Lynn, Barry
Goldberg, Richard A.
Rosenzweig, Cynthia
Hogrefe, Christian
Klein-Rosenthal, Joyce Ellen
Kinney, Patrick L.
Publisher
American Public Health Association
Date
2014-06-02T18:55:14Z
2007
Type
Journal Article
Format
application/pdf
Identifier
Knowlton, Kim, Barry Lynn, Richard A. Goldberg, Cynthia Rosenzweig, Christian Hogrefe, Joyce Klein Rosenthal, and Patrick L. Kinney. 2007. Projecting Heat-Related Mortality Impacts Under a Changing Climate in the New York City Region. American Journal of Public Health 97, no. 11: 2028–2034.
0090-0036
1541-0048
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:12223990
10.2105/ajph.2006.102947
Language
en_US
Relation
doi:10.2105/ajph.2006.102947
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2040370/
American Journal of Public Health