Spatial Variation in the Association between Extreme Heat Events and Warm Season Pediatric Acute Care Utilization: A Small-Area Assessment of Multiple Health Conditions and Environmental Justice Implications in California (2005-2019).

ABSTRACT:

Background

The increasing frequency and severity of extreme heat events due to climate change present unique risks to children and adolescents. There is a lack of evidence regarding how heat's impacts on pediatric patients vary spatially and how structural and sociodemographic factors drive this heterogeneity.

Objectives

We examined the association between extreme heat events and pediatric acute care utilization in California for 19 distinct health conditions. We then assessed how extreme heat's consequences varied at the ZIP code level and identified environmental justice metrics that modulated children's vulnerability to extreme heat.

Methods

This study analyzed 7.2 million unscheduled hospitalizations and emergency department visits for children <19 years old in Ca

SUBMITTER: Ndovu A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11781562 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature