Study Reveals Increased Hospitalization Rates in Older Adults Following Tropical Cyclones

A study in Nature Communications found an increase in overall hospitalizations among older adults in the week following exposure to tropical cyclones, reports News-Medical . The investigators used data over 16 years on 70 million Medicare hospitalizations and a database of county-level local winds associated with tropical cyclones. More than 16,000 additional hospitalizations were associated with tropical cyclones over a 10-year average exposure, with a 14 percent average increase in respiratory ailments in the week after exposure. Respiratory disease hospitalizations doubled the day after tropical cyclones with hurricane-force winds. Also observed was an average 4 percent rise in infectious and parasitic diseases and 9 percent rise in injuries. Hospitalizations from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease spiked 45 percent the week following tropical cyclone exposure compared to weeks without exposure. The boost in hospitalizations was fueled mainly by increases in emergency hospitalizations. Meanwhile, declines in hospitalizations were impelled by non-emergency hospitalizations, suggesting that people possibly canceled scheduled hospitalizations due to the cyclone.