Comparing the Role of Relative and Absolute Humidity in Heat-Related Mortality: A Case Time-Series Study in South Korea.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Epidemiology studies have reported inconsistent associations of humidity with heat-related health outcomes, despite strong plausibility of such physiological associations. In this regard, there has been a heated debate on which humidity metric to use in epidemiological research.

Objectives

This study aimed to compare the role of two common humidity metrics, relative and absolute humidity, in heat-related mortality in summer using a nationwide mortality dataset.

Methods

We applied a case time-series design for summer (June-September) mortality across the entire 229 districts of South Korea from 2011 to 2019. The temperature was fitted using a distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) with 10 lag days. A linear interaction between the cross-basis of temperature

SUBMITTER: Min J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12169509 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature