Summertime acute heat illness in U.S. emergency departments from 2006 through 2010: analysis of a nationally representative sample.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Patients with acute heat illness present primarily to emergency departments (EDs), yet little is known regarding these visits.

Objective

We aimed to describe acute heat illness visits to U.S. EDs from 2006 through 2010 and identify factors associated with hospital admission or with death in the ED.

Methods

We extracted ED case-level data from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) for 2006-2010, defining cases as ED visits from May through September with any heat illness diagnosis (ICD-9-CM 992.0-992.9). We correlated visit rates and temperature anomalies, analyzed demographics and ED disposition, identified risk factors for adverse outcomes, and examined ED case fatality rates (CFR).

Results

There were 326,497 (95% CI: 308,372, 344,658) c

SUBMITTER: Hess JJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4216158 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature