ArticlePLoS currents2014
Power outages, extreme events and health: a systematic review of the literature from 2011-2012.
Article in PLoS currents, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Establishing the Domains of a Hospital Disaster Preparedness Evaluation Tool: A Systematic Review.Prehospital and disaster medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Excess mortality attributable to the 2025 Iberian Peninsula blackout.Nature communications · 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
- Temperature extremes contribute to suicide-related help-seeking through multiple pathways: Evidence from crisis hotline data (2019-2023).PLOS mental health · 2026Article
- Projection of temperature-related severe injuries under climate change: a nationwide study of South Korea.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Understanding energy system dynamics in a changing climate: Insights for first responders and risk managers.iScience · 2025Review
- Inequality in infrastructure access and its association with health disparities.Nature human behaviour · 2025Article
- Floods and cause-specific mortality in the United States applying a triply robust approach.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Frontline clinic perspectives on climate change, human health, and resilience: a national cross-sectional survey.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- A spatial analysis of power-dependent medical equipment and extreme weather risk in the southeastern United States.International journal of disaster risk reduction : IJDRR · 2023Article
- Slack in the infrastructure of intensive care units: resilience management in the post-pandemic era.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Extreme weather events and HIV: development of a conceptual framework through qualitative interviews with people with HIV impacted by the California wildfires and their clinicians.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Integrated causal-predictive machine learning models for tropical cyclone epidemiology.Biostatistics (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- Efficacy of alternative cooling devices used for insulin storage without refrigeration under hot-humid environment.Annals of medicine · 2022Article
- Phoenix On Fire: A Phenomenological Study Of A Psychiatric Hospital Fire In Iran.Annals of burns and fire disasters · 2022Article
- Maternal and Child Health Care Service Disruptions and Recovery in Mozambique After Cyclone Idai: An Uncontrolled Interrupted Time Series Analysis.Global health, science and practice · 2022Article
- Short- and long-term wildfire threat when adapting infrastructure for wildlife conservation in the boreal forest.Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America · 2022Article
- Power outage mediates the associations between major storms and hospital admission of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.BMC public health · 2021Article
- Technologic optimization of a virtual disease focused panel during the COVID pandemic and beyond.Abdominal radiology (New York) · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background Extreme events (e.g. flooding) threaten critical infrastructure including power supplies. Many interlinked systems in the modern world depend on a reliable power supply to function effectively. The health sector is no exception, but the impact of power outages on health is poorly understood. Greater understanding is essential so that adverse health impacts can be prevented and/or mitigated. Methods We searched Medline, CINAHL and Scopus for papers about the health impacts of power outages during extreme events published in 2011-2012. A thematic analysis was undertaken on the extracted information. The Public Health England Extreme Events Bulletins between 01/01/2013 - 31/03/2013 were used to identify extreme events that led to power outages during this three-month period. Results We identified 20 relevant articles. Power outages were found to impact health at many levels within diverse settings. Recurrent themes included the difficulties of accessing healthcare, maintaining frontline services and the challenges of community healthcare. We identified 52 power outages in 19 countries that were the direct consequence of extreme events during the first three months of 2013. Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first review of the health impacts of power outages. We found the current evidence and knowledge base to be poor. With scientific consensus predicting an increase in the frequency and magnitude of extreme events due to climate change, the gaps in knowledge need to be addressed in order to mitigate the impact of power outages on global health.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.