Evaluation of Historical Drought-Related Mortality Events

Although there is a basic understanding of the connection of drought to human health impacts, more work is needed to expand our knowledge of the exposure pathways linking drought to health outcomes. Most of the research on this topic has focused on international settings. However, some recent work has found that severe drought events increased mortality rates in the western United States during the period of 2000–2013. Although this is an important first step in expanding our knowledge of drought’s role on health in the United States, a more thorough evaluation of the impacts of drought on human health for all regions of the United States is still needed. This broader analysis is especially important because drought manifests differently across the United States, and health outcomes are regionally specific. Some of this regional variability is the result of population demographics, socioeconomic status, occupational exposures, and environmental exposures. 

To expand our scope, this study uses national mortality multiple cause data from 1960–2015 to identify regional linkages of drought indices and health to address the following questions: 

• How do drought events impact mortality rates regionally and nationally? 
• Which population demographics are most affected?
• What historical drought events had the greatest impact on mortality rates?
• What health issues cause the change in mortality rates? 
• How do hospital admissions change with drought events?  

For more information, please contact Amanda Sheffield (amanda.sheffield@noaa.gov).