Assessing heatwave effects on disabled persons in South Korea

Abstract

This study investigated the risk of heatwaves for people with disabilities and other socioeconomic attributes using Health Care Bigdata in South Korea. The Health Care Bigdata provides detailed information on heat-related illness (HRI) patients in 2011–2020 from seven major cities. We employed the Distributed Lag Nonlinear Model (DLNM) to measure heat waves' relative risk. Our findings are four-fold. First, the relative risk (RR) of disabled people was 5.075 (95% confidence interval 4.476–5.674), significantly surpassing that of non-disabled people, 3.296 (2.517–4.075). Second, among various personal characteristics studied, disability influenced RR the most, exceeding impacts from elderly (4.457: 3.748–5.166), low-income (3.909: 3.004–4.813), and outdoor (4.052: 2.940–5.164). Third, the disabled young group (5.305: 4.414–6.195) was more vulnerable than the non-disabled elderly group (4.287: 3.576–4.999). Lastly, no significant difference in relative risk was observed between the mild (4.413: 3.855–4.971) and severe disabled groups (4.013: 3.121–4.905).