Date of Award

1982

Embargo Period

8-1-2024

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Health Professions

First Advisor

Kenneth J. Buhmeyer

Second Advisor

Donald G. Gregg

Abstract

Approximately fourteen hundred cardiac related calls were run by Greenville County Emergency Medical Service ambulance personnel in 1980. Four hundred seventy of these patients died. A study was undertaken to determine the relationship that heat and humidity had on these cardiac mortalities. Various statistical procedures utilized in the study indicate that of the sample studied, fewer deaths occurred in the hottest temperatures on the average day while the coldest temperatures produced the highest average daily death rate. Humidity studies showed that the higher the humidity, the lower the average daily death rate. High heat and high humidity shown in the combined form of the National Weather Service’s Discomfort Index indicated that as heat and humidity rise on the Discomfort Index Scale, the death rate also rises.

Rights

All rights reserved. Copyright is held by the author.

Share

COinS