The effects of residential air conditioning and social vulnerability on heat-related hospitalizations in California.

ABSTRACT: Lack of access to cool spaces is considered to be a key determinant of heat vulnerability. However, assessments of the moderating effect of access to cooling on heat health outcomes have typically used spatially coarse estimates of residential air conditioning (AC) prevalence. Here we estimate patterns of inter- and intra-urban AC ownership across 1,582 zip code tabulation areas (ZCTAs) in 27 California cities, use the results to assess the covariation between AC and social vulnerability, and examine how AC prevalence and social vulnerability modify the association between extreme heat and morbidity. Our approach combines Census records, the CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), meteorological variables, and hospital admissions across the 2012-2019 warm season from the California Departmen

SUBMITTER: Romitti Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12519414 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature