The impact of temperature on mortality in argentinean municipalities

Abstract

Abstract: Although earlier studies have documented the influence of weather on human health in major Argentine cities, these studies lack national coverage. Moreover, the use of different health metrics and weather parameters makes it impossible to assess any geographic heterogeneity of impacts.We aimed to analyze the effect of hot and cold temperatures on human mortality rates in Argentina and their differential impacts by age and sex. The study rests on nonparametric techniques applied to data with a panel structure to estimate the causal effect of temperature extremes on mortality risks. Our findings confirm that extreme temperatures increase mortality rates relative to mean monthly temperatures, but the impact of colder than average temperatures is larger in magnitude. On average, a day with a countrywide mean temperature of 5 ◦C increases overall monthly mortality rate by 3.5% points with respect to the observed mortality for a day with countrywide average temperature. As expected, there exists substantial heterogeneity between age groups, with older people facing larger risks. To a lesser extent, there are also heterogeneous impacts by gender and geographic regions. These findings provide relevant information for policy makers about potential impacts of changing temperatures over Argentina in the upcoming decades.