@article{3116744,
    title = "Assessment and prevention of acute health effects of weather conditions
in Europe, the PHEWE project: background, objectives, design",
    author = "Michelozzi, Paola and Kirchmayer, Ursula and Katsouyanni, Klea and and Biggeri, Annibale and McGregor, Glenn and Menne, Bettina and Kassomenos, and Pavlos and Anderson, Hugh Ross and Baccini, Michela and Accetta, and Gabriele and Analytis, Antonis and Kosatsky, Tom",
    journal = "ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH INSIGHTS",
    year = "2007",
    volume = "6",
    publisher = "BMC",
    doi = "10.1186/1476-069X-6-12",
    abstract = "Background: The project “Assessment and prevention of acute health
effects of weather conditions in Europe” (PHEWE) had the aim of
assessing the association between weather conditions and acute health
effects, during both warm and cold seasons in 16 European cities with
widely differing climatic conditions and to provide information for
public health policies.
Methods: The PHEWE project was a three-year pan-European collaboration
between epidemiologists, meteorologists and experts in public health.
Meteorological, air pollution and mortality data from 16 cities and
hospital admission data from 12 cities were available from 1990 to 2000.
The short-term effect on mortality/morbidity was evaluated through
city-specific and pooled time series analysis. The interaction between
weather and air pollutants was evaluated and health impact assessments
were performed to quantify the effect on the different populations. A
heat/health watch warning system to predict oppressive weather
conditions and alert the population was developed in a subgroup of
cities and information on existing prevention policies and of adaptive
strategies was gathered.
Results: Main results were presented in a symposium at the conference of
the International Society of Environmental Epidemiology in Paris on
September 6th 2006 and will be published as scientific articles. The
present article introduces the project and includes a description of the
database and the framework of the applied methodology.
Conclusion: The PHEWE project offers the opportunity to investigate the
relationship between temperature and mortality in 16 European cities,
representing a wide range of climatic, socio-demographic and cultural
characteristics; the use of a standardized methodology allows for direct
comparison between cities."
}