Relationship between the number of heat stroke by ambulance transports and land use, aging rate in Toyohashi from 2010 to 2021

Abstract

We investigated the relationship between 1) the number of heat stroke cases and land use in Toyohashi city, also 2) the number of heat stroke cases and aging rate, percentage of elderly living alone. The ambulance transport data provided by the Toyohashi Fire Department, Aichi Prefecture, Japan was used. The data period was June to September 2010 - 2021. The obtained results showed that 1) the cluster analysis classified elementary school districts by typical land use ("farmland," "urbanized area," and "factory"),There was no relationship between difference of land use and the number of the cases due to heatstroke per 1,000 population. However, 2) there was a relationship between number of the cases and typical land use when the data aggregated by each age group or onset place. 3) there was a strong association between the number of cases per 1,000 population and the aging ratio, also and percentage of elderly living-alone in clusters that included many elementary districts classified as an urbanized area. For the elderly, who are more vulnerable to heat damage, more information and community-based measures will be needed in the future.