Heatwave heroes: crafting health safeguards for all in an era of turbulent temperatures

Health System Impact Fellows are responding to the urgent need to protect against extreme heat

In summer 2021, Canadian provinces recorded more than 100 all-time heat records, including Canada’s record in Lytton, British Columbia— a high of 49.6°C. The heat dome caused wildfires and took the lives of 619 individuals in BC alone. It is predicted that climate change will increase the severity and duration of extreme heat events. These extreme temperatures can cause heat-related illness, including exhaustion and heat stroke, and may also amplify existing cardiovascular and respiratory conditions.

What can be done to prepare for these changes? In 2011, Health Canada developed the heat alert and response systems (HARS) to prevent heat-related mortality across Canada. Through HARS, decision-makers, policy experts, and researchers are collaborating to monitor health data, provide heat warnings and recommendations, as well as set up transportation and community services such as cooling centers. HARS is currently one of the most widely implemented measures to safeguard the public in Canada from heat-related health impacts during heat events.

With the support of CIHR Health System Impact Fellowships, three researchers are working within health systems organizations to update HARS and other health safeguards, protect the health of people most vulnerable to extreme heat, and use artificial intelligence (AI) to study the health impacts of extreme weather events and guide public health measures.

Updating the system

There is a need to identify areas for refinement of HARS, including variability to heat tolerance in vulnerable people such as women and older adults. This is the plan of Nicholas Goulet, a PhD candidate in human and environmental physiology at the University of Ottawa and a recipient of a 2023 CIHR Health Systems Impact Fellowship. Nicholas is working in the Climate Change and Innovation Bureau of Health Canada where he aims to identify ways to update HARS so it can offer better protection in the future.

“I was introduced to the importance of public health messaging while studying the health impacts of extreme heat and realizing that the knowledge we're producing in the laboratory is not being translated into practical use to improve heat resiliency,” says Nicholas.

His first step is reviewing academic peer-reviewed literature, recent studies, reviews, and articles, and determining the reasons why programs aren’t evaluated more frequently.

The reason, Nicholas says, could be challenges caused by a lack of resources or data accessibility. It could also be that “every regional health authority in Canada has different rules about how they collect, organize it, and share data.” There are also concerns over data privacy that may represent barriers to evaluating HARS.

Nicholas will focus on the criteria and methods commonly employed to assess the impact of HARS by comparing mortality rates before and after the implementation of HARS. He will provide recommendations to update current guidelines for heat-mitigation measures and practices for HARS, and outline what needs to be done over the next two to three years.

“Ultimately, a well-prepared and informed public will be better positioned to adapt to global warming and extreme heat,” says Nicholas.

Protecting pregnant women from extreme heat

Caroline Li-Maloney, a PhD candidate in physiology at the University of Ottawa, is working in the same unit as Nicholas at Health Canada. The 2023 CIHR Health Systems Impact Fellowship will help Caroline generate new information to protect pregnant women from extreme heat.

“Overall, a lot of the focus is on populations like the elderly and those with chronic conditions, and obviously those are the priority for protection,” says Caroline. “There is not a lot of epidemiological evidence or studies out of Canada following heat events addressing pregnant women.”

Caroline will study the effect of extreme heat on pregnant people and fetuses. Her work will help determine if the hot weather is associated with an increased likelihood of maternal complications and poorer neonatal outcomes. Maternal age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status will be considered. Her project will involve reviewing existing research to assess the relevant data on pregnant women in Canada to inform public and private institutions across Canada about the risks caused by exposure to heat and provide new protective tools if needed. She is working on a policy paper to generate recommendations for heat messaging. The information, including a depiction of what happens to a pregnant person during heat waves, will also be presented to the public through publications, presentations, and pamphlets.

“I think this is the most holistic way to analyze and disseminate the key information,” says Caroline.

A data-driven approach to finding the relationship between heat and health impacts

Jérémie Boudreault is a PhD candidate in data science and environmental health at the National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS) in Quebec City. He was a 2022 CIHR Health Systems Impact Fellow with Quebec National Institute of Public Health (INSPQ). Jérémie is using his 5+ years of practice in data science to leverage the latest and most advanced methods to study heat-related health impacts: artificial intelligence (AI).

"My goal is to provide evidence-based data and tools for decision-makers, so that they can take action to limit the consequences of this health crisis that is climate change" says Jérémie.

He has used AI and compared the results with statistical models, such as the ones employed to develop HARS in Québec created by INRS in collaboration with INSPQ, in hopes of improving estimations of impact, prevention, and monitoring processes. He has measured how AI can be used to detect changes in both mortality and morbidity related to heat events. "By comparing the performance of various approaches, our research validated if current heat impacts models are still adequate, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of different AI methods." says Jérémie.

AI allowed Jérémie to extract the maximum amount of information from health and environmental data, enabling him to consider other variables that may affect heat and its impact on health, for example, humidity, wind, or air pollution.

"Knowing that I'm using every day my expertise in research and data science for climate action and improving public health is very fulfilling" says Jérémie.

As the weather undergoes more drastic shifts, ensuring we are able to accurately predict heat-related health emergencies and better preserve people’s health is becoming increasingly vital. These three heatwave heroes are dedicated in their research to update guidelines and tools using evidence gathered from scientific literature and AI. By looking more closely at climate change, weather, technology, and health, their work is contributing to greater resilience for all people in Canada and internationally.

Date modified:

2024-04-19