Heat-related Illness Emergency Department Visit Data

The numbers and rates of heat-related illness emergency department visits in Iowa by year, age group, and gender.

If a heat-related illness measure is going up or down over time.

If a segment of a population is at higher risk for hospitalization or a visit to the emergency department due to heat-related illness.

To inform the public about heat-related illness emergency department visits.

For program planning and evaluation by state and local partners.

What causes heat-related illness, or what leads to heat-related illness emergency department visits.

The total burden of heat-related illness in a population.

The number of people who visited the emergency department due to heat-related illness. Because personal identifiers are removed from the hospital discharge data before analysis, individuals who have multiple hospitalizations or emergency department visits cannot be identified.

Hospitalization and emergency department data are collected by the Iowa Hospital Association on behalf of Iowa HHS in accordance with Iowa Code section 135.166.

Bridged-race population estimates from the National Center for Health Statistics and US Census. Data from 2000 to 2009 are based on intercensal population estimates and 2010-most current year are based on the postcensal population estimates.

The Iowa Public Health Tracking portal displays Emergency Department visit data from the year 2003 through the most recent year of data available.

Emergency Department visits are defined as Iowa residents who are treated and released or subsequently admitted to a facility in Iowa.

Heat-related illness hospitalizations/ED visits are defined as having a diagnosis of Heat-related illness from a non-man made source.

Heat-related illness hospitalizations/ED visits are only counted when they occur in May - September.

Heat-related illness is defined as the International Classification of Disease 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes that begin with 992, and an injury code of E900.0 or E900.9; excluding records that have an injury code of E900.1.

Heat-related illness is defined as the International Classification of Disease 10th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) codes that begin with T67, X30, or X32; excluding records that have any code that begins with W92

Multiple emergency department visits by the same patient cannot be identified, and are not excluded.

These data are not appropriate for estimating the total burden of Heat-related illness.

Iowa residents discharged from hospitals in surrounding states are not included, so emergency department visit rates for counties in which residents are likely to receive care in a surrounding state may be underestimated. Rates for counties in which residents are likely to visit hospitals that do not submit data to the Iowa Hospital Association (e.g., Veteran's Administration, Indian Health Services hospitals, and institutionalized populations) may also be artificially low.