TY - JOUR
T1 - Opportunities and challenges for personal heat exposure research
AU - Kuras, Evan R.
AU - Richardson, Molly B.
AU - Calkins, Miriam M.
AU - Ebi, Kristie L.
AU - Hess, Jeremy J.
AU - Kintziger, Kristina W.
AU - Jagger, Meredith A.
AU - Middel, Ariane
AU - Scott, Anna A.
AU - Spector, June T.
AU - Uejio, Christopher K.
AU - Vanos, Jennifer K.
AU - Zaitchik, Benjamin F.
AU - Gohlke, Julia M.
AU - Hondula, David
N1 - Funding Information:
E.K. and D.H. were partially supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) program (BCS-1026865). M.B. was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (T32 HL105349) and the Nutrition Obesity Research Center (P30DK0563360). M.B., J.G., A.S., and B.Z. are partially supported by NIH grant R01 ES023029. J.H. was partially supported by NIH grant R21TW009535. A.S. was supported in part by NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program (IGERT) DGE-1069213. J.S. was supported in part by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC/NIOSH) grant 5K01OH010672-02. D.H. was partially supported by the Virginia G. Piper Trust Health Policy Informatics Initiative and NSF grant SES-1520803. J.V., A.M., and D.H. were partially supported by NSF Sustainability Research Network (SRN) Cooperative Agreement 1444758. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the NIH, NSF, CDC, NIOSH, or any other organization.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, Public Health Services, US Dept of Health and Human Services. All rights reserved.
PY - 2017/8
Y1 - 2017/8
N2 - Background: Environmental heat exposure is a public health concern. The impacts of environmental heat on mortality and morbidity at the population scale are well documented, but little is known about specific exposures that individuals experience. Objectives: The first objective of this work was to catalyze discussion of the role of personal heat exposure information in research and risk assessment. The second objective was to provide guidance regarding the operationalization of personal heat exposure research methods. Discussion: We define personal heat exposure as realized contact between a person and an indoor or outdoor environment that poses a risk of increases in body core temperature and/or perceived discomfort. Personal heat exposure can be measured directly with wearable monitors or estimated indirectly through the combination of time-activity and meteorological data sets. Complementary information to understand individual-scale drivers of behavior, susceptibility, and health and comfort outcomes can be collected from additional monitors, surveys, interviews, ethnographic approaches, and additional social and health data sets. Personal exposure research can help reveal the extent of exposure misclassification that occurs when individual exposure to heat is estimated using ambient temperature measured at fixed sites and can provide insights for epidemiological risk assessment concerning extreme heat. Conclusions: Personal heat exposure research provides more valid and precise insights into how often people encounter heat conditions and when, where, to whom, and why these encounters occur. Published literature on personal heat exposure is limited to date, but existing studies point to opportunities to inform public health practice regarding extreme heat, particularly where fine-scale precision is needed to reduce health consequences of heat exposure.
AB - Background: Environmental heat exposure is a public health concern. The impacts of environmental heat on mortality and morbidity at the population scale are well documented, but little is known about specific exposures that individuals experience. Objectives: The first objective of this work was to catalyze discussion of the role of personal heat exposure information in research and risk assessment. The second objective was to provide guidance regarding the operationalization of personal heat exposure research methods. Discussion: We define personal heat exposure as realized contact between a person and an indoor or outdoor environment that poses a risk of increases in body core temperature and/or perceived discomfort. Personal heat exposure can be measured directly with wearable monitors or estimated indirectly through the combination of time-activity and meteorological data sets. Complementary information to understand individual-scale drivers of behavior, susceptibility, and health and comfort outcomes can be collected from additional monitors, surveys, interviews, ethnographic approaches, and additional social and health data sets. Personal exposure research can help reveal the extent of exposure misclassification that occurs when individual exposure to heat is estimated using ambient temperature measured at fixed sites and can provide insights for epidemiological risk assessment concerning extreme heat. Conclusions: Personal heat exposure research provides more valid and precise insights into how often people encounter heat conditions and when, where, to whom, and why these encounters occur. Published literature on personal heat exposure is limited to date, but existing studies point to opportunities to inform public health practice regarding extreme heat, particularly where fine-scale precision is needed to reduce health consequences of heat exposure.
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U2 - 10.1289/EHP556
DO - 10.1289/EHP556
M3 - Article
C2 - 28796630
AN - SCOPUS:85027702156
SN - 0091-6765
VL - 125
JO - Environmental health perspectives
JF - Environmental health perspectives
IS - 8
ER -