Impact of Increasing Ambient Temperatures on Emergency Department Trauma Presentations at a Level I Trauma Center.
4 affiliations
- 1Icahn School of Medicine at The Mount Sinai Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, New York, New York.
- 2NYC Health and Hospitals, Elmhurst Hospital Center, Department of Emergency Medicine, New York, New York.
- 3NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, Department of Surgery, Queens, New York.
- 4Icahn School of Medicine at The Mount Sinai Hospital, Department of Surgery, New York, New York.
Abstract
Introduction
Global temperatures are increasing because of climate change, affecting human health. Elevated ambient temperature has been shown to increase rates of trauma presentations in emergency departments and to increase antisocial behavior, such as violent crime. To better understand how to reduce the burden on trauma hospitals, we must better understand the relationship between ambient temperature, trauma patients, and intentional injury. We sought to examine the relationship between trauma rates and minimum and maximum daily temperatures and assess whether the assault trauma mechanism had the strongest association between weather and trauma rates.Methods
We conducted a retrospective cohort study of full and partial trauma team activations that presented to a Level I trauma center in New York from 2012 to 2019, inclusive. Daily maximum and minimum temperatures were divided into quintile ranges. Traumas were classified by injury type and mechanism as either unintentional, assault, or intentional self-harm. We used generalized linear models with a Poisson distribution to examine the relationship between maximum and minimum temperature ranges and trauma rates, controlling for precipitation.Results
Increasing daily minimum and maximum temperatures positively correlated with increasing trauma activations. While all trauma types increased with increasing temperature, assault traumas showed the highest rate of increase (P < .001). Compared to the lowest temperature quintile (< 46 °F), the two highest maximum temperature quintiles (> 73 °F and 83 °F) showed an increase in assault rates of 83% and 65% (incident rate ratio 1.83 [95% CI, 1.46-2.29] and 1.65 [95% CI, 1.32-2.07], respectively).Conclusion
Trauma rates have a positive association with increasing ambient temperature rates. This temperature effect is largest among the assault group, suggesting that as temperatures continue to increase, so too will traumas that are the result of interpersonal violence.
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BibTeX
@article{mosley2026impact,
title = {{Impact of Increasing Ambient Temperatures on Emergency Department Trauma Presentations at a Level I Trauma Center.}},
author = {Grace E Mosley and Monique Arnold and Bharti Sharma and Jennifer Whittington and Geoff Jara-Almonte},
journal = {The western journal of emergency medicine},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.5811/westjem.52977},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42900920},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Impact of Increasing Ambient Temperatures on Emergency Department Trauma Presentations at a Level I Trauma Center.
AU - Grace E Mosley
AU - Monique Arnold
AU - Bharti Sharma
AU - Jennifer Whittington
AU - Geoff Jara-Almonte
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/24
JO - The western journal of emergency medicine
DO - 10.5811/westjem.52977
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42900920
AB - Introduction Global temperatures are increasing because of climate change, affecting human health. Elevated ambient temperature has been shown to increase rates of trauma presentations in emergency departments and to increase antisocial behavior, such as violent crime. To better understand how to reduce the burden on trauma hospitals, we must better understand the relationship between ambient temperature, trauma patients, and intentional injury. We sought to examine the relationship between trauma rates and minimum and maximum daily temperatures and assess whether the assault trauma mechanism had the strongest association between weather and trauma rates.Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of full and partial trauma team activations that presented to a Level I trauma center in New York from 2012 to 2019, inclusive. Daily maximum and minimum temperatures were divided into quintile ranges. Traumas were classified by injury type and mechanism as either unintentional, assault, or intentional self-harm. We used generalized linear models with a Poisson distribution to examine the relationship between maximum and minimum temperature ranges and trauma rates, controlling for precipitation.Results Increasing daily minimum and maximum temperatures positively correlated with increasing trauma activations. While all trauma types increased with increasing temperature, assault traumas showed the highest rate of increase (P < .001). Compared to the lowest temperature quintile (< 46 °F), the two highest maximum temperature quintiles (> 73 °F and 83 °F) showed an increase in assault rates of 83% and 65% (incident rate ratio 1.83 [95% CI, 1.46-2.29] and 1.65 [95% CI, 1.32-2.07], respectively).Conclusion Trauma rates have a positive association with increasing ambient temperature rates. This temperature effect is largest among the assault group, suggesting that as temperatures continue to increase, so too will traumas that are the result of interpersonal violence.
SN - 1936-900X
SN - 1936-9018
ER -