Impact of Daily Maximum Temperature on Emergency Department Arrivals and Acuity Levels

Extremes of temperature, particularly heat, appear to affect ED arrivals differently across different acuity levels. Medium- to higher-acuity presentations appear to be more responsive to heat, with a statistically significant increase in ED presentations on days with the highest heat burden. The highest acuity presentations became numerically but not statistically more frequent on days with the highest heat burden, while the lowest acuity presentations decreased numerically but not statistically in these conditions.