Psychotropic Medication Prescriptions and Large California Wildfires.

Importance: Wildfires, intensified by climate change, have known effects on physical health but their effects on mental health are less well characterized. It has been hypothesized that the residential proximity to a large wildfire can exacerbate underlying mental health conditions as evidenced by increased prescriptions of psychotropic medications. Objective: To evaluate the association between the occurrence of large wildfires and the prescription rates of psychotropic medications immediately following the start of the fire. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohortstudy used an interrupted time-series analysis to compare psychotropic medication prescriptions in the 6 weeks before and after each of 25 wildfires. The setting was California counties within metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) experiencing large wildfires from 2011 through 2018. Participants included individuals residing in California MSAs with prescriptions of psychotropic medications recorded in the Merative MarketScan Research Database (MarketScan) during the study period. Statistical analysis was performed for these 25 large wildfires occurring between September 2011 and November 2018. Exposure: Residential proximity to large wildfires that burned more than 25 000 acres occurring in a California county within an MSA. Main Outcomes and Measures: Prescriptions of psychotropic medications, including antidepressants, antipsychotics, anxiolytics, hypnotics, and mood-stabilizers, with statins as a negative control outcome. Results: For the study period, prescription data and patient-level attributes were extracted for 7 115 690 unique individuals (annual mean [range]: 889 461 [455 705-1 426 928] individuals) enrolled in MarketScan and residing in fire-affected MSAs. This study found a statistically significant increase in prescriptions of antidepressants (rate ratio [RR], 1.04 [95% CI, 1.01-1.07]), anxiolytics (RR, 1.05 [95% CI, 1.02-1.09]), and mood-stabilizing medications (RR, 1.06 [95% CI, 1.01-1.13]) in the fire period compared with the prefire baseline. However, the prescriptions of antipsychotics, hypnotics, and the negative control outcome, statins, showed no significant association. Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study of large California wildfires, the occurrence of wildfire was associated with increased mental health burden as reflected in increased prescription rates of certain psychotropic medications. The findings underscore the need for further scientific examination into the mental health effects of wildfires and the allocation of mental health resources in disaster responses. California experienced a substantial burden of wildfires from 2011 to 2018, and as wildfires become more intense and frequent in the context of anthropogenic climate change, it is increasingly important to understand and address their mental health effects.

Impacts of the 2021 heat dome on emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and health system operations in three hospitals in Seattle, Washington.

Objectives: Extreme heat events (EHEs) are associated with excess healthcare utilization but specific impacts on emergency department (ED) operations and throughput are unknown. In 2021, the Pacific Northwest experienced an unprecedented heat dome that resulted in substantial regional morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to examine its impact on ED utilization, unplanned hospitalization, and hospital operations in a large academic healthcare system. Methods: Retrospective electronic medical records from three Seattle-area hospitals were used to compare healthcare utilization during the EHE compared to a pre-event reference period within the same month. Interrupted time series analysis was used to evaluate the association between EHE exposure and ED visits and hospitalizations. Metrics of ED crowding for the EHE were compared to the reference period using Student's t-tests and chi-squared tests. Additionally, multivariable Poisson regression was used to identify risk factors for heat-related illness and hospital admission. Results: Interrupted time series analysis showed an increase of 21.7 ED visits per day (95% confidence interval [CI] = 14.7, 28.6) and 9.9 unplanned hospitalizations per day (95% CI = 8.3, 11.5) during the EHE, as compared to the reference period. ED crowding and process measures also displayed significant increases, becoming the most pronounced by day 3 of the EHE; the EHE was associated with delays in ED length of stay of 1.0 h (95% CI = 0.4, 1.6) compared to the reference period. Higher incidence rate ratios for heat-related illness were observed for patients who were older (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.02; 95% CI = 1.01,1.03), female (IRR = 1.47; 95% CI = 1.06, 2.04), or who had pre-existing diabetes (IRR = 3.19; 95% CI = 1.47, 6.94). Conclusions: The 2021 heat dome was associated with a significant increase in healthcare utilization including ED visits and unplanned hospitalizations. Substantial impacts on ED and hospital throughput were also noted. These findings contribute to the understanding of the role extreme heat events play on impacting patient outcomes and healthcare system function.

Race, Healthcare, and Health Disparities: A Critical Review and Recommendations for Advancing Health Equity.

An overwhelming body of evidence points to an inextricable link between race and health disparities in the United States. Although race is best understood as a social construct, its role in health outcomes has historically been attributed to increasingly debunked theories of underlying biological and genetic differences across races. Recently, growing calls for health equity and social justice have raised awareness of the impact of implicit bias and structural racism on social determinants of health, healthcare quality, and ultimately, health outcomes. This more nuanced recognition of the role of race in health disparities has, in turn, facilitated introspective racial disparities research, root cause analyses, and changes in practice within the medical community. Examining the complex interplay between race, social determinants of health, and health outcomes allows systems of health to create mechanisms for checks and balances that mitigate unfair and avoidable health inequalities. As one of the specialties most intertwined with social medicine, emergency medicine (EM) is ideally positioned to address racism in medicine, develop health equity metrics, monitor disparities in clinical performance data, identify research gaps, implement processes and policies to eliminate racial health inequities, and promote anti-racist ideals as advocates for structural change. In this critical review our aim was to (a) provide a synopsis of racial disparities across a broad scope of clinical pathology interests addressed in emergency departments-communicable diseases, non-communicable conditions, and injuries-and (b) through a race-conscious analysis, develop EM practice recommendations for advancing a culture of equity with the potential for measurable impact on healthcare quality and health outcomes.

Public Health Preparedness for Extreme Heat Events.

Heat is a dangerous hazard that causes acute heat illness, chronic disease exacerbations, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and a range of injuries. Risks are highest during extreme heat events (EHEs), which challenge the capacity of health systems and other critical infrastructure. EHEs are becoming more frequent and severe, and climate change is driving an increasing proportion of heat-related mortality, necessitating more investment in health protection. Climate-resilient health systems are better positioned for EHEs, and EHE preparedness is a form of disaster risk reduction. Preparedness activities commonly take the form of heat action plans (HAPs), with many examples at various administrative scales. HAP activities can be divided into primary prevention, most important in the pre-event phase; secondary prevention, key to risk reduction early in an EHE;and tertiary prevention, important later in the event phase. After-action reports and other postevent evaluation activities are central to adaptive management of this climate-sensitive hazard.

Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Emergency Department Visits Associated With Wildfire Smoke Exposure in California in 2015.

BACKGROUND: Wildfire smoke is known to exacerbate respiratory conditions; however, evidence for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events has been inconsistent, despite biological plausibility. METHODS AND RESULTS: A population-based epidemiologic analysis was conducted for daily cardiovascular and cerebrovascular emergency department (ED) visits and wildfire smoke exposure in 2015 among adults in 8 California air basins. A quasi-Poisson regression model was used for zip code-level counts of ED visits, adjusting for heat index, day of week, seasonality, and population. Satellite-imaged smoke plumes were classified as light, medium, or dense based on model-estimated concentrations of fine particulate matter. Relative risk was determined for smoky days for lag days 0 to 4. Rates of ED visits by age- and sex-stratified groups were also examined. Rates of all-cause cardiovascular ED visits were elevated across all lags, with the greatest increase on dense smoke days and among those aged ≥65 years at lag 0 (relative risk 1.15, 95% confidence interval [1.09, 1.22]). All-cause cerebrovascular visits were associated with smoke, especially among those 65 years and older, (1.22 [1.00, 1.49], dense smoke, lag 1). Respiratory conditions were also increased, as anticipated (1.18 [1.08, 1.28], adults >65 years, dense smoke, lag 1). No association was found for the control condition, acute appendicitis. Elevated risks for individual diagnoses included myocardial infarction, ischemic heart disease, heart failure, dysrhythmia, pulmonary embolism, ischemic stroke, and transient ischemic attack. CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of an extensive wildfire season found smoke exposure to be associated with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular ED visits for all adults, particularly for those over aged 65 years.

Total economic cost and burden of dengue in Nicaragua: 1996-2010.

The burden of dengue in Nicaragua has been steadily rising during the last three decades; however, there have been few efforts to quantify the burden (measured in disability-adjusted life years [DALYs]) and cost to society. Using primary data from the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health (MINSA), the total cost and burden of dengue were calculated from 1996 to 2010. Total costs included both direct costs from medical expenditures and prevention activities and indirect costs from lost productivity. The annual disease burden ranged from 99 to 805 DALYs per million, with a majority associated with classic dengue fever. The total cost was estimated to be US$13.5 million/year (range: US$5.1-27.6 million). This analysis can help improve allocation of dengue control resources in Nicaragua and the region. As one of the most comprehensive analyses of its type to date in Nicaragua and Latin America, this study can serve as a model to determine the burden and cost of dengue.