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Building Vulnerability in a Changing Climate: Indoor Temperature Exposures and Health Outcomes in Older Adults Living in Public Housing during an Extreme Heat Event in Cambridge, MA
- Source :
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Volume 16, Issue 13, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol 16, Iss 13, p 2373 (2019)
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 2019.
-
Abstract
- In the Northeastern U.S., future heatwaves will increase in frequency, duration, and intensity due to climate change. A great deal of the research about the health impacts from extreme heat has used ambient meteorological measurements, which can result in exposure misclassification because buildings alter indoor temperatures and ambient temperatures are not uniform across cities. To characterize indoor temperature exposures during an extreme heat event in buildings with and without central air conditioning (AC), personal monitoring was conducted with 51 (central AC, n = 24<br />non-central AC, n = 27) low-income senior residents of public housing in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2015, to comprehensively assess indoor temperatures, sleep, and physiological outcomes of galvanic skin response (GSR) and heart rate (HR), along with daily surveys of adaptive behaviors and health symptoms. As expected, non-central AC units (Tmean = 25.6 &deg<br />C) were significantly warmer than those with central AC (Tmean = 23.2 &deg<br />C, p &lt<br />0.001). With higher indoor temperatures, sleep was more disrupted and GSR and HR both increased (p &lt<br />0.001). However, there were no changes in hydration behaviors between residents of different buildings over time and few moderate/several health symptoms were reported. This suggests both a lack of behavioral adaptation and thermal decompensation beginning, highlighting the need to improve building cooling strategies and heat education to low-income senior residents, especially in historically cooler climates.
- Subjects :
- Hot Temperature
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Public housing
Acclimatization
Climate Change
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
vulnerability
Vulnerability
Climate change
lcsh:Medicine
010501 environmental sciences
Health outcomes
01 natural sciences
Article
Central air conditioning
Extreme heat
Environmental health
Adaptation, Psychological
Humans
Air Conditioning
Cities
Poverty
Behavioral adaptation
Aged
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
public housing
indoor environmental quality
lcsh:R
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Extreme Heat
temperature
health
built environment
Massachusetts
Environmental science
heat
Skin conductance
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 16604601
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....31618af09339760f7beae45ab953e0ad
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16132373