Preprint
Individual and city-level variations in heat-related road traffic deaths in Latin America
medRxiv
07 Sep 2025
PMID: 40950504
Abstract
Road-traffic mortality and extreme heat are two major urban health challenges, increasingly found to be associated. However, few studies have examined this association in Latin America—one of the world’s most urbanized, fastest-motorizing region, with a high share of vulnerable road users— and even fewer have analyzed multiple cities across diverse climates and urban settings. Using temperature and road-traffic mortality data (2000–2019) from 272 cities in six Latin American countries, we conducted a time-stratified case-crossover study. The relative risks (RRs) of road-traffic mortality at the 95th and 99th temperature percentiles, compared to the minimum mortality temperature percentile, were 1.16 [95% CI: 1.14–1.19] and 1.18 [1.15–1.21], respectively. Risks were particularly high among adolescents, males, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and in cities with hotter climates and longer commutes. Policymakers in the tropical Global South should prioritize protecting vulnerable road users in peripheral communities, where many endure long, heat-exposed commutes in non-climate-controlled informal transport.
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Details
- Title
- Individual and city-level variations in heat-related road traffic deaths in Latin America
- Creators
- Cheng-Kai Hsu - Department of City and Regional Planning and Institute of Transportation Studies, University of CaliforniaD. Alex Quistberg - Drexel UniversityBrisa N. Sánchez - Drexel UniversityJosiah L. Kephart - Drexel UniversityUsama Bilal - Drexel UniversityNelson Gouveia - Universidade de São PauloCarolina Perez Ferrer - Center for Research in Population Health, National Institute of Public HealthWaleska T. Caiaffa - Universidade Federal de Minas GeraisAmélia Augusta de Lima Friche - Universidade Federal de Minas GeraisIgnacio Yannone - Universidad Nacional de LanúsDaniel A. Rodríguez - Department of City and Regional Planning and Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California
- Publication Details
- medRxiv
- Publisher
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
- Edition
- 1.1
- Number of pages
- 19
- Resource Type
- Preprint
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Drexel FIRST (Center for Firefighter Injury Research and Safety Trends); Urban Health Collaborative; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Environmental and Occupational Health
- Other Identifier
- 991022097405804721