Regional features of the relationship between daily heat-stroke mortality and temperature in different climate zones in Japan

Abstract

Relationships between daily heat-stroke mortality and temperature were statistically analyzed using Vital Statistics data for 1999 to 2016, with attention to regional differences related to different climate zones. An analysis based on data categorized for each prefecture has revealed that the daily heat-stroke mortality depends not only on daily temperature but also on the summer mean temperature in a way that a prefecture in a cooler summer climate tends to show a higher mortality for a specified value of daily temperature, implying the effect of acclimatization. Additionally, daily heat-stroke mortality is found to be higher for cases of higher temperature on preceding few days to a week, apparently due to accumulated heat stress, but is lower for cases of higher temperature a few weeks ago, presumably due to acclimatization. As for relative humidity, the mortality on a day of higher humidity tends to be higher for a specified value of daily maximum temperature, but lower for a specified value of daily mean temperature. It is also shown that heat-stroke mortality tends to be high on a day of low wind speed and long sunshine hours.