ArticleEpidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.)2012
Lights out: impact of the August 2003 power outage on mortality in New York, NY.
Article in Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.), 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
55 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Associations between Green Building Design Strategies and Community Health Resilience to Extreme Heat Events: A Systematic Review of the Evidence.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Pooled it
- Estimating Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Residential Power Outages in Massachusetts from 2013 to 2022 Using Public Records.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2026Article
- Grid development for energy justice and a just transition.iScience · 2026Review
- Article
- Excess mortality attributable to the 2025 Iberian Peninsula blackout.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Hurricane power outage burden lands unequally: satellite evidence across 30 Atlantic storms.Research square · 2026Article
- The association between power outages and cardiovascular and respiratory hospitalizations among US Medicare beneficiaries in 2018: A case-crossover study.PLoS medicine · 2026Article
- Emergency Department Visits During the Fall 2019 Public Safety Power Shutoff Events in California.Disaster medicine and public health preparedness · 2026Article
- De-energization as maladaptation: Uneven residential exposure to wildfire Public Safety Power Shutoffs and compound heat.Global environmental change : human and policy dimensions · 2025Article
- Electricity inaccessibility across historically redlined and present-day disadvantaged areas in New York City.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2025Article
- Assessing bias in measuring power outage exposure with simulations.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2025Article
- Winter Storm Uri, Mortality, and Health Care Use of Nursing Home Residents.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- A cross-sectional study characterizing the prevalence of utility service outages across demographic characteristics and health correlates in New York City.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2025Article
- On adjustment for temperature in heat-wave epidemiology: a new method for estimating the health effects of heat waves.American journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- The Joint Effects of Thunderstorms and Power Outages on Respiratory-Related Emergency Visits and Modifying and Mediating Factors of This Relationship.Environmental health perspectives · 2024Article
- Heat-related mortality and ambulance transport after a power outage in the Tokyo metropolitan area.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2024Article
- Association of social vulnerability factors with power outage burden in Washington state: 2018-2021.PloS one · 2024Article
- Spatiotemporal distribution of power outages with climate events and social vulnerability in the USA.Nature communications · 2023Article
- 24-h movement behaviour, thermal perception, thirst, and heat management strategies of children and adults during heat alerts: a pilot study.Frontiers in physiology · 2023Article
- How neighborhood environment modified the effects of power outages on multiple health outcomes in New York state?Hygiene and environmental health advances · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundLittle is known about how power outages affect health. We investigated mortality effects of the largest US blackout to date, 14-15 August 2003 in New York, NY.
methodsWe estimated mortality risk in New York, NY, using a generalized linear model with data from 1987-2005. We incorporated possible confounders, including weather and long-term and seasonal mortality trends.
resultsDuring the blackout, mortality increased for accidental deaths (122% [95% confidence interval = 28%-287%]) and nonaccidental (ie, disease-related) deaths (25% [12%-41%]), resulting in approximately 90 excess deaths. Increased mortality was not from deaths being advanced by a few days; rather, mortality risk remained slightly elevated through August 2003.
conclusionsTo our knowledge, this is the first analysis of power outages and nonaccidental mortality. Understanding the impact of power outages on human health is relevant, given that increased energy demand and climate change are likely to put added strain on power grids.
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