Heat and Emergency Department Operations: A Two-Decade Observational Study

In 485,403 warm-season ED visits at a large urban academic medical center in New England, each 1°F increase in maximum heat index was linked to a 0.41% longer door-to-doctor time.

• Why it matters: ED crowding is a major US challenge, yet environmental heat has been understudied as a factor shaping ED operations, patient behavior, and EMS use.
• What they did: Using daily maximum heat index (ERA5-Land) for Suffolk County, Massachusetts, investigators retrospectively analyzed throughput, behavioral outcomes, and EMS arrival likelihood across a 22-year period.
• The result: Heat index was not significantly tied to other throughput metrics, but at ≥95°F it was associated with higher leaving against medical advice (OR 1.27) and greater EMS arrival odds (OR 1.10).

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.