Heat-related Illness

This two-arm randomized controlled trial will evaluate whether an artificial intelligence-assisted personalized heat-risk alert system reduces heat-related illness symptom burden among adults with chronic conditions. The intervention will integrate prespecified clinical characteristics with the Pakistan Meteorological Department's same-day forecast maximum temperature to classify individual heat-related acute clinical-event risk and deliver personalized alerts through a mobile application. The control group will receive a generic PMD heat-health advisory through the same application.

The escalating environmental heat-stress associated with global warming is a societal challenge with large and potential harmful consequences for humans. Excess morbidity and mortality during heat waves provides strong evidence for fatal outcomes. However, it is unclear why some people are particularly vulnerable and get sick from hyperthermia, while others adapt and tolerate exposure. The Icarus project aims to provide a psycho-physiological framework for improved mitigation of the health threats associated with global warming. Combining expertise in integrative thermal physiology, pharmacology, photobiology, psychology and machine learning, we will collaborate on comprehensive cross-scientific studies using controlled lab-exposure combined with investigations in ecological settings including vulnerable and highly tolerant people across populations from northern to southern Europe. Advanced algorithms will be developed to generate personalized alerts and advising based on behavioral patterns, psychological profiling, predicted vulnerability and willingness to adopt resilience-building strategies. Global warming is projected to continue towards the end of the 21st century and constitutes an increasing threat to human health unless we as individuals and collectively become better in preventing acute effects, as well as devise sustainable strategies to limit further anthropogenic warming of the climate system. Acutely, improved guidance is important for both individual and public health, where Icarus aims at providing a highly improved basis for preventing heat-related disease, advising or nudging people towards pro-health behavior, including smarter use of technologies to mitigate heat stress, or adjusting medication to reduce adverse effects during heat events. In support of the sustainability agenda, our framework also forms a novel basis for developing advising algorithms relevant for optimization of climate change mitigation policy-making.