Spotlight on Research

UK heatwaves are becoming more frequent due to anthropogenic climate change. July 2023 was globally the hottest month on record, with the temperature exceeding the long-term average by 1.8°C, topping the previous 2021 record by 0.36°C. Across Europe, extreme temperatures have led to devastating wildfires, impacting on people's health, the environment, and economies.

Previous studies have identified adverse impact on human health and reported an increased risk of mortality associated with the heat; this is already a public health concern. Emergency department presentations and hospital admissions provide an indication of total demand for health services during heat events; however, it is postulated that ambulance data can provide a more sensitive indication of demand.

This systematic review related to ambulance service use, heat, and heatwaves, with an aim to estimate the impact on all-cause and cause-specific ambulance dispatches. The protocol was registered through PROSPERO: CRD42022296556. PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, ProQuest, and Web of Science were searched for English language papers, 2011–2022, using terms (i) a heat term, (ii) an ambulance term (iii) a health term. In total, 3628 papers were identified; following screening n=48 studies were reviewed. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to assess quality, four studies reached high quality and ten were eligible for meta-analysis.