Hospitalization risks associated with floods in a multi-country study

Floods of unprecedented intensity and frequency have been observed. However, evidence regarding the impacts of floods on hospitalization remains limited. Here we collected daily hospitalization counts during 2000-2019 from 747 communities in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, New Zealand, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. For each community, flooded days were defined as days from the start dates to the end dates of flood events. Lag-response associations between flooded day and daily hospitalization risks were estimated for each community using a quasi-Poisson regression model with a distributed lag nonlinear function. The community-specific estimates were then pooled using a random-effects meta-analysis. Based on the pooled estimates, attributable fractions of hospitalizations due to floods were calculated. We found that hospitalization risks increased and persisted for up to 210 days after flood exposure, with the overall relative risks being 1.26 (95% confidence interval 1.15-1.38) for all causes, 1.35 (1.21-1.50) for cardiovascular diseases, 1.30 (1.13-1.49) for respiratory diseases, 1.26 (1.10-1.44) for infectious diseases, 1.30 (1.17-1.45) for digestive diseases, 1.11 (0.98-1.25) for mental disorders, 1.61 (1.39-1.86) for diabetes, 1.35 (1.21-1.50) for injury, 1.34 (1.21-1.48) for cancer, 1.34 (1.20-1.50) for nervous system disorders and 1.40 (1.22-1.60) for renal diseases. The associations were modified by climate types, flood severity, age, population density and socioeconomic status. Flood exposure contributed to hospitalizations by up to 0.27% from all causes. This study revealed that flood exposure was associated with increased all-cause and ten cause-specific hospitalization risks within up to 210 days after exposure.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Water
Published
2025-04-08
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-025-00425-8
Citations
8
Primary Topic
Climate Change and Health Impacts
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
9.60

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article

Hospitalization risks associated with floods in a multi-country study

Éric Lavigne, Yao Yu Wu, Pei Yu, Bo Wen et al.
8 citations
Nature Water
Climate Change and Health Impacts
9.60
article

Hospitalization risks associated with floods in a multi-country study

Éric Lavigne, Yao Yu Wu, Pei Yu, Bo Wen, Joanne E. McKenzie, Simon Hales, Kraichat Tantrakarnapa, Rongbin Xu, Dung Phung, Paulo Hilário Nascimento Saldiva, Micheline de Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coêlho, Wenzhong Huang, Zhengyu Yang, Wissanupong Kliengchuay, Wenhua Yu, Tingting Ye, Patricia Matus Correa, Shanshan Li, Yanming Liu, Yue Leon Guo, Yiwen Zhang, Yuming Guo, Yuxi Zhang, Ke Ju
article en
8 citations

Abstract

Floods of unprecedented intensity and frequency have been observed. However, evidence regarding the impacts of floods on hospitalization remains limited. Here we collected daily hospitalization counts during 2000-2019 from 747 communities in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, New Zealand, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. For each community, flooded days were defined as days from the start dates to the end dates of flood events. Lag-response associations between flooded day and daily hospitalization risks were estimated for each community using a quasi-Poisson regression model with a distributed lag nonlinear function. The community-specific estimates were then pooled using a random-effects meta-analysis. Based on the pooled estimates, attributable fractions of hospitalizations due to floods were calculated. We found that hospitalization risks increased and persisted for up to 210 days after flood exposure, with the overall relative risks being 1.26 (95% confidence interval 1.15-1.38) for all causes, 1.35 (1.21-1.50) for cardiovascular diseases, 1.30 (1.13-1.49) for respiratory diseases, 1.26 (1.10-1.44) for infectious diseases, 1.30 (1.17-1.45) for digestive diseases, 1.11 (0.98-1.25) for mental disorders, 1.61 (1.39-1.86) for diabetes, 1.35 (1.21-1.50) for injury, 1.34 (1.21-1.48) for cancer, 1.34 (1.20-1.50) for nervous system disorders and 1.40 (1.22-1.60) for renal diseases. The associations were modified by climate types, flood severity, age, population density and socioeconomic status. Flood exposure contributed to hospitalizations by up to 0.27% from all causes. This study revealed that flood exposure was associated with increased all-cause and ten cause-specific hospitalization risks within up to 210 days after exposure.

Nature WaterVol. 3(5)
Health Canada (CA), The University of Sydney (AU), University of Ottawa (CA), The University of Queensland (AU), Universidade de São Paulo (BR), Universidad de Los Andes, Chile (CL), Mahidol University (TH), UNSW Sydney (AU), Monash Health (AU), Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (TH), National Taiwan University Hospital (TW), Monash University (AU), University of Otago (NZ)
Monash University, China Scholarship Council, National Research Council of Thailand, Medical Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Climate Change and Health Impacts
9.60
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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