2015 Volume 52 Issue 2 Pages 105-117
Health and weather are two of the most common conversational topics in any language, but is this politeness or is this an indication of serious interest in these topics? The purpose of this paper is to clarify the general public’s level of interest in heat disorders. Data from questions posted on an online knowledge-sharing community was analyzed. People used the words “heat disorders” and “heat stroke” mainly and more than 90% of posts contained the term “heat disorders”. When the daily maximum WBGT is over 20℃, the question posts about heat disorders begin to increase and this trend has been generally increasing year by year. The common subject matters of the questions are: preventive measures, symptoms, diagnosis and the treatment of heat disorders. The people who have an interest in heat disorders tend to post a generic question that has no specific subject or place. However, questions concerning heat disorders of children under preschool age are described in detail; e.g. age, place, situation etc. Questions about heat disorders in the 6–18 year old age group describe an unspecified child at school. It is shown that the requisite information about heat disorders differs with the subject’s age and location.
