Excess winter deaths in Europe: a multi-country descriptive analysis
- PMID: 24919695
- DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/cku073
Excess winter deaths in Europe: a multi-country descriptive analysis
Abstract
Background: Winter deaths are a known health and social care challenge for many countries. A previous international comparison showed significant differences in excess winter deaths across Europe in the 1990s, with the northern countries having lower excess winter mortality than those in southern Europe.
Methods: The Excess Winter Deaths Index (EWDI) is the ratio of deaths in the winter period (December to March) compared with deaths in the non-winter period. Data from the Eurostat database and national registries were used to calculate the EWDI for 31 countries in Europe across the time period 2002/2003 to 2010/2011.
Results: National EWDI values show heterogeneity, with a broad pattern of increasing EWDI values from northern to southern Europe and increasing mean winter temperature (r(2) = 0.50, P > 0.0001). Malta, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus and Belgium all had an EWDI that was statistically significantly higher than the average EWDI for the other 30 European countries. There was no clear association between country-level EWDI and the level of inter-annual variability in winter temperature across Europe.
Discussion: This article demonstrates the differences in EWDI that exist between European countries with implications for both research and policy. Many deaths may be avoidable as environmental, social and personal factors are known to contribute to winter mortality. We now need to work to better understand the causes of inter-country differences.
© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.
Similar articles
-
Excess winter mortality in Europe: a cross country analysis identifying key risk factors.J Epidemiol Community Health. 2003 Oct;57(10):784-9. doi: 10.1136/jech.57.10.784. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2003. PMID: 14573581 Free PMC article.
-
Investigation of the association between excess winter mortality and socio-economic deprivation.J Public Health Med. 2000 Jun;22(2):176-81. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/22.2.176. J Public Health Med. 2000. PMID: 10912556
-
[High summer temperatures and mortality in the Czech Republic 1982-2000].Epidemiol Mikrobiol Imunol. 2003 Aug;52(3):105-16. Epidemiol Mikrobiol Imunol. 2003. PMID: 12931347 Czech.
-
The impact of ambient temperature on mortality among the urban population in Skopje, Macedonia during the period 1996-2000.BMC Public Health. 2006 Feb 23;6:44. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-6-44. BMC Public Health. 2006. PMID: 16504096 Free PMC article.
-
Temperature, housing, deprivation and their relationship to excess winter mortality in Great Britain, 1986-1996.Int J Epidemiol. 2001 Oct;30(5):1100-8. doi: 10.1093/ije/30.5.1100. Int J Epidemiol. 2001. PMID: 11689529
Cited by
-
Excess winter mortality in Finland, 1971-2019: a register-based study on long-term trends and effect modification by sociodemographic characteristics and pre-existing health conditions.BMJ Open. 2024 Feb 2;14(2):e079471. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-079471. BMJ Open. 2024. PMID: 38309756 Free PMC article.
-
Self-reported energy use behaviour changed significantly during the cost-of-living crisis in winter 2022/23: insights from cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys in Great Britain.Sci Rep. 2023 Dec 14;13(1):21683. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-48181-7. Sci Rep. 2023. PMID: 38097624 Free PMC article.
-
The adverse effect of ambient temperature on respiratory deaths in a high population density area: the case of Malta.Respir Res. 2022 Oct 31;23(1):299. doi: 10.1186/s12931-022-02218-z. Respir Res. 2022. PMID: 36316676 Free PMC article.
-
Effectiveness of an Energy-Counseling Intervention in Reducing Energy Poverty: Evidence from a Quasi-Experimental Study in a Southern European City.J Urban Health. 2022 Jun;99(3):549-561. doi: 10.1007/s11524-022-00642-6. Epub 2022 May 27. J Urban Health. 2022. PMID: 35622196 Free PMC article.
-
Effects of covid-19 pandemic on life expectancy and premature mortality in 2020: time series analysis in 37 countries.BMJ. 2021 Nov 3;375:e066768. doi: 10.1136/bmj-2021-066768. BMJ. 2021. PMID: 34732390 Free PMC article.
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources