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Heat Health Messages: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Preventative Messages Tool in the Older Population of South Australia

This study explores the efficacy of providing targeted information to older individuals to prevent adverse health outcomes during extreme heat. Participants ≥65 years of age (n = 637) were recruited from previous population-based studies and randomized into intervention and control groups. The inter...

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Autores principales: Nitschke, Monika, Krackowizer, Antoinette, Hansen, Alana L., Bi, Peng, Tucker, Graeme R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5615529/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28858262
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14090992
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author Nitschke, Monika
Krackowizer, Antoinette
Hansen, Alana L.
Bi, Peng
Tucker, Graeme R.
author_facet Nitschke, Monika
Krackowizer, Antoinette
Hansen, Alana L.
Bi, Peng
Tucker, Graeme R.
author_sort Nitschke, Monika
collection PubMed
description This study explores the efficacy of providing targeted information to older individuals to prevent adverse health outcomes during extreme heat. Participants ≥65 years of age (n = 637) were recruited from previous population-based studies and randomized into intervention and control groups. The intervention group received evidence-based information leaflets and summarised “Beat the Heat” tips. Post summer 2013–2014, participants responded to questions about their behaviours and their health experiences. Chi square analysis and risk ratios (RR) were used to determine the difference in effects. Responses were received from 216 intervention subjects and 218 controls. Behaviour modification during extreme heat was similar in both groups except for significant increases in the use of cooling systems and the use of a wet cloth to cool the skin in the intervention group. Both actions were recommended in the information package. More people in the intervention group also claimed to have had adequate heat health information. After adjusting for confounders, the RR for self-reported heat stress experienced during summer 2014 indicated a 63% (RR 0.37; 95% CI: 0.22–0.63) reduction in the intervention group compared to the control group. Access to intensive prevention information may have contributed to this positive outcome, indicating the potential usefulness of targeted heat-health information for seniors.
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spelling pubmed-56155292017-09-30 Heat Health Messages: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Preventative Messages Tool in the Older Population of South Australia Nitschke, Monika Krackowizer, Antoinette Hansen, Alana L. Bi, Peng Tucker, Graeme R. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article This study explores the efficacy of providing targeted information to older individuals to prevent adverse health outcomes during extreme heat. Participants ≥65 years of age (n = 637) were recruited from previous population-based studies and randomized into intervention and control groups. The intervention group received evidence-based information leaflets and summarised “Beat the Heat” tips. Post summer 2013–2014, participants responded to questions about their behaviours and their health experiences. Chi square analysis and risk ratios (RR) were used to determine the difference in effects. Responses were received from 216 intervention subjects and 218 controls. Behaviour modification during extreme heat was similar in both groups except for significant increases in the use of cooling systems and the use of a wet cloth to cool the skin in the intervention group. Both actions were recommended in the information package. More people in the intervention group also claimed to have had adequate heat health information. After adjusting for confounders, the RR for self-reported heat stress experienced during summer 2014 indicated a 63% (RR 0.37; 95% CI: 0.22–0.63) reduction in the intervention group compared to the control group. Access to intensive prevention information may have contributed to this positive outcome, indicating the potential usefulness of targeted heat-health information for seniors. MDPI 2017-08-31 2017-09 /pmc/articles/PMC5615529/ /pubmed/28858262 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14090992 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
Nitschke, Monika
Krackowizer, Antoinette
Hansen, Alana L.
Bi, Peng
Tucker, Graeme R.
Heat Health Messages: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Preventative Messages Tool in the Older Population of South Australia
title Heat Health Messages: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Preventative Messages Tool in the Older Population of South Australia
title_full Heat Health Messages: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Preventative Messages Tool in the Older Population of South Australia
title_fullStr Heat Health Messages: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Preventative Messages Tool in the Older Population of South Australia
title_full_unstemmed Heat Health Messages: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Preventative Messages Tool in the Older Population of South Australia
title_short Heat Health Messages: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Preventative Messages Tool in the Older Population of South Australia
title_sort heat health messages: a randomized controlled trial of a preventative messages tool in the older population of south australia
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5615529/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28858262
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14090992
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