AIR-CONDTIONING IN NURSING HOMES TILL DEATH DO US PART?

摘要

Heat wave periods coincide with raised levels of mortality in general and particularly among in-patients in nursing homes. There are several studies which confirm this phenomenon, among them one in The Netherlands (Borst, Schols and Mackenbach, 1997; also Mackenbach, Schols and Borst, 1997). This study showed the correlation between mortality rates and the weekly average of maximum daily ambient air temperatures at intervals of 5 °C. As mortality rates were more evidently raised in hot periods the correlation with specifically the hot period (summer 1994) was analysed in more detail. The correlation is striking, with a correlation factor of R~2= 0.8988. This result generates the question as to what extent nursing homes should be equipped with air-conditioning even in moderate climates, and provides a start towards a quantification of indoor temperature limits in heat wave periods.