Cargando…

General Population Knowledge about Extreme Heat: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Lisbon and Madrid

Extreme heat is associated with an increased mortality and morbidity. National heat plans have been implemented to minimize the effect of extreme heat. The population’s awareness and knowledge of national heat plans and extreme heat is essential to improve the community’s behavior and adaptation. A...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Gil Cuesta, Julita, van Loenhout, Joris Adriaan Frank, Colaço, Maria da Conceição, Guha-Sapir, Debarati
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5334676/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28134849
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14020122
_version_ 1782511893054750720
author Gil Cuesta, Julita
van Loenhout, Joris Adriaan Frank
Colaço, Maria da Conceição
Guha-Sapir, Debarati
author_facet Gil Cuesta, Julita
van Loenhout, Joris Adriaan Frank
Colaço, Maria da Conceição
Guha-Sapir, Debarati
author_sort Gil Cuesta, Julita
collection PubMed
description Extreme heat is associated with an increased mortality and morbidity. National heat plans have been implemented to minimize the effect of extreme heat. The population’s awareness and knowledge of national heat plans and extreme heat is essential to improve the community’s behavior and adaptation. A general population survey was conducted in Lisbon and in Madrid to assess this knowledge. We used a questionnaire to interview passers-by. Results were compared between Lisbon and Madrid and between locals and foreigners, using Pearson Chi-square tests and Fisher's exact test. We conducted 260 interviews in six locations of different socio-economic backgrounds in each city. The most frequently mentioned extreme heat-related risk groups were the elderly (79.2%), children (49.6%) and babies (21.5%). The most frequently reported protective measures were increased fluid intake (73.1%) and avoiding exposure to the sun (50.8%). Knowledge about the heat plan was higher in Lisbon (37.2%) than in Madrid (25.2%) (p-value = 0.03). Foreigners had less knowledge of risk groups compared to locals. Heat plans were not widely known in Madrid and Lisbon. Nonetheless, knowledge of practical concepts to face extreme heat, such as certain risk groups and protective measures, was found. Our results were similar to comparable surveys where specific respondents’ groups were identified as less knowledgeable. This highlighted the importance of addressing these groups when communicating public health messages on heat. Foreigners should be specifically targeted to increase their awareness.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5334676
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2017
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-53346762017-03-16 General Population Knowledge about Extreme Heat: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Lisbon and Madrid Gil Cuesta, Julita van Loenhout, Joris Adriaan Frank Colaço, Maria da Conceição Guha-Sapir, Debarati Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Extreme heat is associated with an increased mortality and morbidity. National heat plans have been implemented to minimize the effect of extreme heat. The population’s awareness and knowledge of national heat plans and extreme heat is essential to improve the community’s behavior and adaptation. A general population survey was conducted in Lisbon and in Madrid to assess this knowledge. We used a questionnaire to interview passers-by. Results were compared between Lisbon and Madrid and between locals and foreigners, using Pearson Chi-square tests and Fisher's exact test. We conducted 260 interviews in six locations of different socio-economic backgrounds in each city. The most frequently mentioned extreme heat-related risk groups were the elderly (79.2%), children (49.6%) and babies (21.5%). The most frequently reported protective measures were increased fluid intake (73.1%) and avoiding exposure to the sun (50.8%). Knowledge about the heat plan was higher in Lisbon (37.2%) than in Madrid (25.2%) (p-value = 0.03). Foreigners had less knowledge of risk groups compared to locals. Heat plans were not widely known in Madrid and Lisbon. Nonetheless, knowledge of practical concepts to face extreme heat, such as certain risk groups and protective measures, was found. Our results were similar to comparable surveys where specific respondents’ groups were identified as less knowledgeable. This highlighted the importance of addressing these groups when communicating public health messages on heat. Foreigners should be specifically targeted to increase their awareness. MDPI 2017-01-28 2017-02 /pmc/articles/PMC5334676/ /pubmed/28134849 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14020122 Text en © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Gil Cuesta, Julita
van Loenhout, Joris Adriaan Frank
Colaço, Maria da Conceição
Guha-Sapir, Debarati
General Population Knowledge about Extreme Heat: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Lisbon and Madrid
title General Population Knowledge about Extreme Heat: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Lisbon and Madrid
title_full General Population Knowledge about Extreme Heat: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Lisbon and Madrid
title_fullStr General Population Knowledge about Extreme Heat: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Lisbon and Madrid
title_full_unstemmed General Population Knowledge about Extreme Heat: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Lisbon and Madrid
title_short General Population Knowledge about Extreme Heat: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Lisbon and Madrid
title_sort general population knowledge about extreme heat: a cross-sectional survey in lisbon and madrid
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5334676/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28134849
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14020122
work_keys_str_mv AT gilcuestajulita generalpopulationknowledgeaboutextremeheatacrosssectionalsurveyinlisbonandmadrid
AT vanloenhoutjorisadriaanfrank generalpopulationknowledgeaboutextremeheatacrosssectionalsurveyinlisbonandmadrid
AT colacomariadaconceicao generalpopulationknowledgeaboutextremeheatacrosssectionalsurveyinlisbonandmadrid
AT guhasapirdebarati generalpopulationknowledgeaboutextremeheatacrosssectionalsurveyinlisbonandmadrid