Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40287706›Full record

ArticleEnvironmental health : a global access science source2025

From inequalities to vulnerability paradoxes: juxtaposing older adults' heat mortality risk and heat experiences.

Małgorzata Wrotek, Iulia Marginean, Zofia Boni, Franciszek Chwałczyk, Ana M Vicedo-Cabrera, Coral Salvador, Barbara Jancewicz

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Environmental health : a global access science source, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Małgorzata WrotekCentre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland. mwrotek@wne.uw.edu.pl.
Iulia MargineanCICERO Center for International Climate Research, Oslo, Norway.
Zofia BoniInstitute of Anthropology and Ethnology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland.
Franciszek ChwałczykInstitute of Cultural Studies, Faculty of Historical and Pedagogical Sciences, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland.
Ana M Vicedo-CabreraInstitute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Coral SalvadorInstitute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Barbara JancewiczCentre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland. b.jancewicz@uw.edu.pl.

Funding

Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Spain) and the European Union TED2021-129152B-C43Polish National Science Centre in cooperation with the Research Council of Norway 2019/35/J/HS6/03992Swiss National Science Foundation TMSGI3_211626Xunta de Galicia, Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Universidade ED431C 2021/44Xunta de Galicia, Spain ED481D-2024-022
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIncreasing temperatures across the globe, including in Europe, pose one of the biggest threats to human health and wellbeing. Different kinds of inequalities, determined by age, sex/gender, isolation, socio-economic status, occupation, living in the city, and health situation, create vulnerability factors influencing people's heat-related mortality risk and their daily experiences during summer.

methodsOur study uses an interdisciplinary approach to research how intersecting inequalities generate vulnerabilities to heat stress among older adults (65+) in two European cities: Warsaw and Madrid. We combine three methodological approaches juxtaposing quantitative and qualitative data: (1) epidemiological analysis that uses daily mortality data in Warsaw and Madrid coupled with meteorological station temperature data from HadISD; (2) the OLS regression based on the survey conducted in Warsaw and Madrid in 2022; and (3) the focus group interviews conducted in Warsaw in 2021.

resultsOur data confirms that good health and financial situation protect people both from mortality risk and negative heat experiences. Interestingly, both air conditioning (A/C) usage and being physically active increase the negative heat experiences people reported. Finally, we identified two vulnerability paradoxes understood as situations when a person or a group might be more at risk but not experience or perceive negative impacts of heat. These paradoxes affect the oldest adults (80+) and older people living alone in both cities.

conclusionsStudies on vulnerability and adaptation need to incorporate both large scale top-down data sets and bottom-up, localized data based on individual experience. Combining various methods and disciplinary approaches enables identification of inequality factors and vulnerability paradoxes that remain unnoticed or underestimated while increasing people's vulnerability to heat stress.

Indexed as

Heat Stress DisordersHot TemperatureAgedAged, 80 and overCitiesFemaleHumansMalePolandSocioeconomic FactorsSpainClimate changeHeat experienceHeat mortalityHeat riskHeat stressHeat wavesInequalitiesOlder adultsParadoxVulnerability

Identifiers

PMID40287706
PMCPMC12034184

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.