Heat Illness Metadata: Emergency Department (ED) Visits

Origin:

Emergency Department (ED) visit data are from the Maine Health Data Organization (MHDO). Population data are from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Dates Available:

2001 - 2019

Geographic Resolution:

State, Public Health District, County

Abstract:

The Maine EPHT program receives ED data annually, based on discharge date, from MHDO. Heat illness
ED visits (ICD-9-CM 992, E900.0 or E900.9, excluding E900.1; ICD-10-CM T67, X30 or X32, excluding W92) are analyzed, stratified by residence and place of care, geographic resolution, age group, and sex.

The dataset contains the following measures:

  1. Number of ED visits for heat illness, by place of residence
  2. Crude rate of ED visits for heat illness, by place of residence
  3. Age-adjusted rate of ED visits for heat illness, by place of residence
  4. Number of ED visits for heat illness, by place of care

Purpose:

This data set supports efforts to improve public health in Maine and contributes to the U.S. CDC’s National Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) Network. A key activity of participants in this network is to track and make available environmental health measures on state and national data portals. Measures derived from the data set described here can be used to compare heat illness ED visits across the state, between groups of people, over time, and in relation to risk factors, exposures, and health outcomes.

The Maine Tracking Network, a member of the National EPHT Network, connects communities, public health professionals, policy makers, state agencies, and others to the data they need to monitor public health, respond to health concerns, prioritize resources for public health action, and evaluate prevention activities. Maine tracks certain health effects, exposures, and environmental hazards that have known relationships, as well as some health effects and environmental hazards that have suspected relationships. By making health and environmental data available through the Maine Tracking Network, more people have access to data they need to think critically and hypothesize about health outcomes and their relationships to conditions in the environment.

Supplemental Information:

The Maine EPHT program analyzes heat illness ED visits by place of residence and place of care. Place of residence analyses are restricted to Maine residents, and allow for comparisons of rates across geographies. Place of care analyses are not restricted to Maine residents, and more closely represent the burden (count) of all heat illness visits within the state. Rates cannot be calculated for place of care analyses because the population-at-risk is unknown.

Entity and Attribute Overview:

This dataset contains the following fields: place based on (residence or location of care), geographic resolution, location name, measure, sex, age, count, population, rate per 100,000, 95% lower confidence limit for rate, 95% upper confidence limit for rate, age-adjusted rate per 100,000, 95% lower confidence limit for age-adjusted rate, 95% upper confidence limit for age-adjusted rate.

Data are aggregated by place of residence or place of care, geographic location, age group, and sex.

Data Limitations:

  • Data represent the number of ED visits for heat illness, not the number of patients.
  • Place of residence analyses only include Maine residents admitted to Maine hospitals; the total number of heat illness ED visits, especially in areas served by hospitals in neighboring states or provinces, may be undercounted.
  • Place of care analyses include all heat illness visits to Maine hospitals, regardless of place of residence. Access to care (i.e. location of hospitals) influences the geographic distribution of ED visits.
  • Heat illness ED data do not represent the total burden of heat illness in Maine; by definition, heat illness ED data do not include heat illness occurrences among individuals who do not receive medical care, are treated in outpatient settings, or die without being admitted to a hospital.
  • When comparing rates across geographic areas, a variety of non-environmental factors, including socio-demographic characteristics and access to medical care, can impact the likelihood of persons being hospitalized for heat illness.
  • Veterans Affairs, Indian Health Services, and institutionalized populations are excluded.

Access Constraints:

Publicly available data are suppressed in accordance with the Maine CDC Privacy Policy to protect confidentiality.

More Information:

Suggested Citation for Data Displays:

Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Maine Tracking Network. Heat Illness: Emergency Department Visits. Available online: https://tracking.publichealth.maine.gov/. Accessed on [date accessed].