Impact of environmental factors on heat-associated mortalities in an urban desert region

The troubling trend of rising heat-associated mortalities in an urban desert region (Maricopa County, AZ, USA) has motivated us to explore the extent to which environmental factors may contribute to increased heat-health risks. Summertime data from 2010 to 2019 were used to construct a suite of models for daily heat-associated mortalities. The best-performing full model included the following predictors, ordered from strongest to weakest influence: daily average air temperature, average of previous 5 days daily average air temperature, year, day of year, average of previous 5 days daily average dew point temperature, average of previous 5 days daily average PM