TY - JOUR
T1 - Outdoor thermal comfort and somatic symptoms among students in a tropical city
AU - Aghamohammadi, Nasrin
AU - Fong, Chng Saun
AU - Mohd Idrus, Muniratul Husna
AU - Ramakreshnan, Logaraj
AU - Haque, Ubydul
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by University of Malaya Grand Challenges Research Grants ( GC002–15SUS ) and University of Malaya Living Lab Research Grant ( LL038–18SUS ). The authors would also like to express their gratitude to the Malaysian Meteorological Department and Department of Environment Malaysia for providing the meteorological data for this research.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by University of Malaya Grand Challenges Research Grants (GC002–15SUS) and University of Malaya Living Lab Research Grant (LL038–18SUS). The authors would also like to express their gratitude to the Malaysian Meteorological Department and Department of Environment Malaysia for providing the meteorological data for this research.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - Rapid urbanization has induced the urban heat island phenomenon which threatens the urban environment and the well-being of communities within it. The prevalence of physical and mental problems associated with hot weather has shown an upward trend recently. However, literature revealed a scarcity of urban health statistics, especially in hot-humid tropical cities. Thus, through this study, we aim to: (1) assess the outdoor thermal comfort of participants in terms of neutral, acceptable and preferred temperatures and (2) examine the association of outdoor thermal sensation and severity of the somatic symptom. A cross-sectional study was conducted by adopting random clustered sampling in a tropical university campus involving 392 healthy individuals aged 18 years and above within 5 m radius from the deployed weather station. Data collection was conducted from April to June 2019 from 1000 to 1700 h. Respondents were required to answer questionnaires that comprise sociodemographic profiles, thermal perception votes, and Patient Health Questionnaire–15 to screen for somatic symptoms. Meteorological data recorded from the weather station was used to evaluate Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) using RayMan model. Findings revealed the neutral, acceptable range and preferred temperature to be 25.6 °C PET, 25.9–32.3 °C PET, and 22.1 °C PET, respectively. About 57.1 % of the participants showed moderate–to–high severity of somatic symptoms. After controlling for gender and ethnicity, participants with warm thermal sensation reported 2.44 times higher odds of having moderate–to–high severity of somatic symptoms than those who had neutral physiological thermal sensation (OR = 2.44, 95 % CI: 1.34, 4.43). Gender and ethnicity were the confounders to somatic symptoms.
AB - Rapid urbanization has induced the urban heat island phenomenon which threatens the urban environment and the well-being of communities within it. The prevalence of physical and mental problems associated with hot weather has shown an upward trend recently. However, literature revealed a scarcity of urban health statistics, especially in hot-humid tropical cities. Thus, through this study, we aim to: (1) assess the outdoor thermal comfort of participants in terms of neutral, acceptable and preferred temperatures and (2) examine the association of outdoor thermal sensation and severity of the somatic symptom. A cross-sectional study was conducted by adopting random clustered sampling in a tropical university campus involving 392 healthy individuals aged 18 years and above within 5 m radius from the deployed weather station. Data collection was conducted from April to June 2019 from 1000 to 1700 h. Respondents were required to answer questionnaires that comprise sociodemographic profiles, thermal perception votes, and Patient Health Questionnaire–15 to screen for somatic symptoms. Meteorological data recorded from the weather station was used to evaluate Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) using RayMan model. Findings revealed the neutral, acceptable range and preferred temperature to be 25.6 °C PET, 25.9–32.3 °C PET, and 22.1 °C PET, respectively. About 57.1 % of the participants showed moderate–to–high severity of somatic symptoms. After controlling for gender and ethnicity, participants with warm thermal sensation reported 2.44 times higher odds of having moderate–to–high severity of somatic symptoms than those who had neutral physiological thermal sensation (OR = 2.44, 95 % CI: 1.34, 4.43). Gender and ethnicity were the confounders to somatic symptoms.
KW - Emotional well-being
KW - Outdoor thermal comfort
KW - Physical well-being
KW - Public health
KW - Tropical city
KW - Urban Heat Island
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85106321547&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scs.2021.103015
DO - 10.1016/j.scs.2021.103015
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85106321547
SN - 2210-6707
VL - 72
JO - Sustainable Cities and Society
JF - Sustainable Cities and Society
M1 - 103015
ER -