Heat exposure and chronic kidney disease: a temporal link in a Taiwanese agricultural county

ABSTRACT

Heat stress-related kidney injury has drawn public health attention. This study explored the temporal relationships between impaired kidney function and preceding outdoor heat exposure Taiwan. Data of participants collected through a health screening program was used to assess the association between chronic kidney disease (CKD) and average ambient temperature with various time lag structures. A total of 1,243 CKD cases and 38,831 non-CKD participants were included in the study. After adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic, lifestyle factors, and comorbidities, CKD was positively associated with the ambient temperature within 1–9 months. The 9-month average ambient temperature yielded the highest odds ratio of CKD (OR = 1.22; 95% CI = 1.09–1.37). Furthermore, females and farmers were found to be more vulnerable to CKD risk after outdoor heat exposure. These findings suggest that the prevention of heat stress-related kidney injury should consider relevant time frames and focus on vulnerable populations.

KEYWORDS:

• Hot temperature
• farmers
• aged
• renal insufficiency
• epidemiologic studies

Acknowledgements

We thank the participants of Changhua Community-based Integrated Screening (CHCIS).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

Jerry Che-Jui Chang and Hsiao-Yu Yang: Study concept and design. Jerry Che-Jui Chang: Collecting the data. Jerry Che-Jui Chang: Statistical Formal analysis. Jerry Che-Jui Chang: Drafting of the manuscript. Chun-Yi Chi and Hsiao-Yu Yang: review and editing. Hsiao-Yu Yang: supervision. All authors participated in approving of the manuscript.

Consent to participate

All authors of this paper consent to participate.

Consent to publish

All authors of this manuscript have consented to its publication.

Ethics approval

This research was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of National Taiwan University (No. 202004HM030).

Data availability statement

Deidentified participant data from the Community-based Integrated Screening program may be obtained from Changhua County Public Health Bureau (CCPHB) in Taiwan but are not publicly available. The contact details of CCPHB are available on their official website (https://www.chshb.gov.tw/en).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2023.2223514.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by:1. Innovation and Policy Center for Population Health and Sustainable Environment (Population Health Research Center, PHRC), College of Public Health, National Taiwan University.2. National Taiwan University Higher Education Sprout Project (112L900403) within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan.3. Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST 109-2314-B-002-166-MY3).The funding bodies played no role in the design or execution of the study beyond the provision of financial support.