Methods of Assessing Health Care Costs in a Changing Climate: A Case Study of Heatwaves and Ambulance Dispatches in Tasmania, Australia.

ABSTRACT: Anthropogenic climate change is causing a rise in global temperatures, with this trend projected to increase into the future. Rising temperatures result in an increase in the frequency and severity of heatwave events, with an associated increase in poor health outcomes for vulnerable individuals. This places an increasing strain on health care services. However, methods calculating future health care costs associated with this trend are poorly understood. We calculated health care costs attributable to heatwave events in Tasmania 2009-2019, using ambulance dispatches as a case study. We also modeled the expected health and economic burden for projected heatwave frequencies between 2010 and 2089. We developed our models based on two possible approaches to describing population adaptation to

SUBMITTER: Campbell SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10558064 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature