© 2005 American Public Health Association DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2004.042630
The authors are with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology. Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Maria C. Mirabelli, MPH, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Epidemiology, CB#8050, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8050 (e-mail: maria.mirabelli{at}unc.edu).
We used medical examiners records to identify heat-related fatalities (N=161) that occurred during the period January 1, 1977, to December 31, 2001, in North Carolina. Estimates of the population at risk were derived from US census data. Annual fatality rates increased with increases in average summer temperature and with the number of days per year at 90°F or higher. Of the occupational heat-related fatalities (n=40), 45% occurred among farm laborers, many of whom died unnoticed and without medical attention.
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