Hurricanes and other tropical cyclones linked to rise in U.S. deaths
from several major causes

Date:
March 8, 2022
Source:
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
Summary:
Over recent decades, hurricanes and other tropical cyclones in
the U.S.

were associated with up to 33.4 percent higher death rates from
several major causes in subsequent months. The study exemplifies
how far-reaching and varied the hidden costs to life could be from
climate-related disasters and climate change. Until now, there
had been a critical knowledge gap about cause-specific tropical
cyclone mortality risks from a large-scale study covering the
entire U.S. across multiple decades.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Over recent decades, hurricanes and other tropical cyclones in the
U.S. were associated with up to 33.4 percent higher death rates from
several major causes in subsequent months.


==========================================================================
This is the finding of research from Columbia University Mailman School
of Public Health, Colorado State University, Imperial College London, and Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, published in the journal JAMA.

The study exemplifies how far-reaching and varied the hidden costs to
life could be from climate-related disasters and climate change.

Until now, there had been a critical knowledge gap about cause-specific tropical cyclone mortality risks from a large-scale study covering the
entire U.S. across multiple decades.

After collecting 33.6 million U.S. death records from 1988 to 2018,
the researchers used a statistical model to calculate how death rates
changed after tropical cyclones and hurricanes (a subset of the strongest tropical cyclones) when compared to equivalent periods in other years.

The researchers found the largest overall increase in the month of
hurricanes for injuries (33.4 percent),with increases in death rates in
the month after tropical cyclones for injuries (3.7 percent), infectious
and parasitic diseases (1.8 percent), respiratory diseases (1.3 percent), cardiovascular diseases (1.2 percent), and neuropsychiatric conditions
(1.2 percent).



========================================================================== Residents of 1206 counties, covering half of the entire
U.S. population, experienced at least one tropical cyclone during
the study period. Tropical cyclones were most frequent in eastern and south-eastern coastal counties.

"Recent tropical cyclone seasons -- which have yielded stronger,
more active, andlonger-lasting tropical cyclones than previously
recorded -- indicate that tropical cyclones will remain an important
public health concern," said Robbie Parks, PhD, post-doctoral research scientist at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and
first author. "Our results show that tropical cyclones in the U.S. were associated with increases in deaths for several major causes of death,
speaking to the 'hidden burden' of climate-related exposures and climate change.

An outsized proportion of low-income and historically-disadvantaged
communities in the United States reside in tropical cyclone-affected
areas; understanding the public health consequences of climate-related disasters such as hurricanes and other tropical cyclones is an essential component of environmental justice." Female injury death rate increases
(46.5 percent) were higher than males (27.6 percent) in the month of hurricanes. Death rate increases were higher for those aged 65 years or
older in the month after tropical cyclones (6.4 percent) when compared
with younger ages (2.7 percent).

"In the U.S., tropical cyclones, such as hurricanes and tropical storms,
have a devastating effect on society, yet a comprehensive assessment of
their continuing health impacts had been lacking,"said Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou, ScD, assistant professor of Environmental Health Sciences
at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, and senior author. "Our
study is a first major step in better understanding how cyclones may
affect deaths, which provides an essential foundation for improving
resilience to climate-related disasters across the days, weeks, months,
and years after they wreak destruction." Co-authors are: Jaime Benavides, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health; G.

Brooke Anderson, Colorado State University; Rachel Nethery, and Francesca Dominici, Harvard Chan School of Public Health; Majid Ezzati, Imperial
College, London; and Ana Navas-Acien and Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health.

The study was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (grants K99 ES033742, R01 ES030616, R01 ES028805, R01 ES028033,
R01 MD012769, R01 AG066793, R01 ES029950, R01 AG060232, RF1 AG071024,
R21 ES028472, P30 ES009089, and P42 ES010349; Pathways to Equitable
Healthy Cities grant from the Wellcome Trust (209376/Z/17/Z), the UK
Medical Research Council (MR/ S019669/1), and the British Heart Foundation Imperial College Centre for Research Excellence (RE/18/4/34215). Work on
the U.S. mortality data is supported by a grant from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as part of the Center for Clean Air Climate Solution.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Columbia_University's_Mailman_School_of_Public_Health.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Robbie M. Parks, Jaime Benavides, G. Brooke Anderson, Rachel
C. Nethery,
Ana Navas-Acien, Francesca Dominici, Majid Ezzati, Marianthi-Anna
Kioumourtzoglou. Association of Tropical Cyclones With County-Level
Mortality in the US. JAMA, 2022; 327 (10): 946 DOI: 10.1001/
jama.2022.1682 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220308115702.htm

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