The intensity of the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon in Taipei and New Taipei City is statistically significant when considering the suicide rate among older residents, the results of a recent study showed.
The study, published in this month’s issue of the Taiwan Journal of Public Health, found that for every 1°C increase in the UHI, the suicide rate among older residents rose by 5.49 percent.
The study investigated the correlation between the urban heat island — a metropolitan area that is substantially warmer than surrounding rural areas due to human activity — and the suicide mortality rate among people aged 65 and older in Taipei and New Taipei City from 2000 to 2008, using geographic information and statistical analysis.
The survey was conducted by researchers from National Chiayi University, National Yang-Ming University, National Cheng Kung University, the National Health Research Institutes and Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s top research institution.
Researchers used data collected by weather stations and a Kriging interpolation method to estimate the intensity of the UHI effect in each region, according to an abstract of the study.
They then examined the spatial and temporal trends in the UHI effect and suicides among older residents, and assessed the spatial cluster effect of suicides among older residents.
Finally, they assessed the link between the UHI and suicides among older residents, after adjusting for confounders such as air temperature and precipitation, as well as income tax, education level, marital status and gender ratio.
Wu Chih-da (吳治達), one of the coauthors of the study and an assistant professor at National Chiayi University’s Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, said that temperatures have been an important factor in the suicides.
The increase in temperature caused by the UHI effect in Taiwan can be serious, as the nation is densely populated and its population and industries are concentrated in cities, where crowded concrete structures make it hard for heat to dissipate, Wu said.
Citing statistics, he said that people aged 65 and older have a much higher suicide mortality rate than other age groups.
Between 2000 and 2008, 1,785 people aged 65 and older committed suicide in Taipei and New Taipei City, Wu said.
He said Taiwan’s metropolitan areas are in need of more green spaces and parks, which could help reduce the intensity of the UHI effect.
Liu Mu-en (劉慕恩), a physician at Taipei Veterans General Hospital’s Psychiatry Department, said studies have shown that residents’ moods can be affected by the weather and that people become more irritable during hot weather.
He advised older people to stay in air-conditioned rooms or visit malls or other public places with air-conditioning when temperatures become too hot.
The Taiwan Journal of Public Health is published every two months by the Taiwan Public Health Association, an academic organization that focuses on the advancement of public health.
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS