International Journal of Biometeorology最新文献

{"title":"Determining the climate change impacts on Ohrid’s tourism","authors":"İlknur Zeydan,&nbsp;Özgür Zeydan","doi":"10.1007/s00484-026-03302-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00484-026-03302-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The climatic conditions and thermal comfort are crucial for the development, marketing, and sustainability of tourism activities in a destination. Ohrid, North Macedonia, has become a popular destination in recent years. This study aims to determine the destination’s suitability for tourism and the impacts of climate change. The Holiday Climate Index (HCI: Urban and HCI: Beach) and the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) were employed. The HCI has three components: thermal, aesthetic, and physical. The UTCI is composed of four primary meteorological variables and two human/non-meteorological factors. The monthly average index scores were calculated, and the most suitable months for tourism in Ohrid and the impacts of climate change on tourism were determined. Correlations between the thermal comfort indices and the tourism indicators (foreign tourist arrivals and nightly stays) were examined. All three indices showed significant relationships with the tourism indicators on a yearly basis, with UTCI showing the strongest associations. Additionally, the non-parametric Freidman test was used to determine whether there were differences between the thermal comfort indices calculated for 10-year periods. No monotonic trend was found in the HCI: Urban or HCI: Beach scores. UTCI exhibited a significant positive trend of approximately 0.05 °C/year. Ohrid appears to remain climatically suitable for tourism according to HCI, despite a gradual increase in physiological thermal stress indicated by UTCI. The results are expected to support tourism planners, destination managers, and visitors. At the same time, it is believed that they will serve as a guide for tourism marketing and tourism development on behalf of Ohrid tourism.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":588,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Biometeorology","volume":"70 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148752186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Climate-sensitive exposures and cancer outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis","authors":"Alireza Negahi,&nbsp;Amirhosein Naseri,&nbsp;Hossein Najdsepas,&nbsp;Hossein Negahban,&nbsp;Mehdi Khosravi-Mashizi,&nbsp;Abolhasan Alijanpour,&nbsp;Nima Narimani,&nbsp;Mohammad Mehdi Atarod,&nbsp;Mohammad Hossein Antikchi,&nbsp;Amirhossein Rahmani,&nbsp;Hossein Neamatzadeh","doi":"10.1007/s00484-026-03293-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00484-026-03293-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Climate change is intensifying environmental exposures — wildfire smoke, ambient air pollution, extreme heat, and weather-driven disasters — with plausible but incompletely quantified consequences for cancer, and no prior synthesis has jointly examined them across cancer incidence, mortality, survival, and recurrence. We systematically searched five databases for observational studies up to May 2026 of wildfire, ambient temperature, hurricane or multi-hazard disaster, precipitation anomaly, or ambient PM₂.₅ exposure and cancer outcomes, and pooled 25 effect estimates from 14 studies within ten exposure–outcome groups using random-effects models, with robust variance estimation (RVE) as the primary approach for groups containing dependent estimates from shared cohorts, alongside prespecified subgroup, meta-regression, sensitivity, and GRADE analyses. After accounting for within-cohort dependence the overall association was null (RVE 1.02 (0.93–1.11)); the uncorrected estimate (1.07 (1.02–1.12)) was inflated by correlated effects and extreme heterogeneity (<i>I</i>² = 97%). Group-specific signals diverged: wildfire exposure showed a non-significant elevation in cancer mortality (RVE 1.11 (0.89–1.38)) and a borderline association with incidence from a single national cohort, ambient PM₂.₅ was associated with poorer survival, and higher temperature appeared protective for survival under the conventional model but not under RVE, most consistent with residual confounding. Certainty was Low for two groups and Very low for the remaining eight. This directionally concerning but statistically fragile, low-certainty evidence does not support a single overall effect; wildfire and ambient-PM₂.₅ carcinogenicity and disaster-related disruption of cancer care are the priorities for adequately powered, dependence-aware research within a planetary-health framework.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":588,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Biometeorology","volume":"70 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148752211","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparative evaluation of machine learning strategies for short-term dengue forecasting in Brazilian capital municipalities","authors":"Darllan Collins da Cunha e Silva,&nbsp;Liliane Moreira Nery,&nbsp;Nícholas de Paula Nicomedes,&nbsp;Pedro Cesar Madureira de Godoy Camargo,&nbsp;Leopoldo André Dutra Lusquino Filho,&nbsp;Raphael de Vicq Ferreira da Costa,&nbsp; Teresa Maria Fernandes Valente","doi":"10.1007/s00484-026-03300-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00484-026-03300-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Dengue is an arboviral disease of high public health relevance, characterized by pronounced temporal variability, nonlinearity, and recurrent outbreaks, which pose challenges to epidemiological surveillance and decision-making. This study evaluated the performance of machine learning methods for short-term forecasting of the weekly dengue morbidity rate in the 27 Brazilian capital cities, comprising the 26 state capitals and Brasília, Federal District, with horizons up to 4 weeks. Epidemiological, climatic, and socioeconomic data were compiled for these capital cities and used to compare a Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) neural network, formulated as a Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) model, and a Gradient Boosting model (CatBoost), implemented using a Direct forecasting strategy with horizon-specific models. Validation was conducted using a walk-forward approach, with evaluation based on absolute error metrics and the coefficient of determination. The results indicated that the GRU architecture presented recurring limitations, including underfitting, temporal lag, and low capacity to anticipate epidemic peaks. In contrast, the CatBoost model demonstrated greater robustness and better adaptation to the variability of epidemiological time series, showing superior performance in most of the analyzed capitals. The findings reinforce that greater architectural complexity does not necessarily imply better operational performance and highlight the potential of ensemble-based methods for short-term epidemiological surveillance applications. These findings contribute to dengue forecasting by showing that, under a common validation framework, ensemble-based strategies may provide greater operational robustness than recurrent MIMO architectures for short-term prediction in heterogeneous epidemiological settings.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":588,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Biometeorology","volume":"70 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00484-026-03300-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148751801","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bioclimatic conditions on the Labrador Peninsula coast in 1884–1889, with a comparison to 1991–2020 at Nain station","authors":"Konrad Chmist,&nbsp;Andrzej Araźny,&nbsp;Rajmund Przybylak,&nbsp;Garima Singh,&nbsp;Przemysław Wyszyński","doi":"10.1007/s00484-026-03299-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00484-026-03299-x","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This article presents the bioclimatic conditions prevailing in the north-eastern part of the Labrador Peninsula during 1884–89, determined based on meteorological data from six measurement stations: Rama, Hebron, Okak, Nain, Zoar and Hopedale. Weather observations were made by the Moravian Brethren in consultation with the German Maritime Observatory (Ger. <i>Deutsche Seewarte</i>), which provided them with reliable meteorological instruments and instructions for conducting the observations. Measurements of air temperature, atmospheric pressure, and wind direction and strength were taken three times daily at 08:00, 14:00 and 20:00 LT. These data have been digitized and made available by the German Meteorological Service (<i>Deutscher Wetterdienst</i> [DWD]). Based on available meteorological data, bioclimatic analyses were performed using two indices: Wind Chill Temperature (WCT) and Insulation Predicted (Iclp). The annual courses of average 14:00 LT values of air temperature, wind speed, WCT and Iclp were examined. The annual courses of bioclimatic indices parameters were determined, as were the frequency of individual frostbite risk categories and of predicted clothing thermal insulation. The results from stations in the historical period were compared against each other and, for the Nain station, historical period results were compared against contemporary results (years 1991–2020). The analyses show that, the average air temperature and wind speed in the years 1884–89 were, respectively, 2.5 °C and 0.6 ms^˗1 lower than in 1991–2020. The WCT and Iclp bioclimatic indices, were prevailingly less favourable in the historical period than in the comparative period by 1.9 °C and 0.1 clo, respectively.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":588,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Biometeorology","volume":"70 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00484-026-03299-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148752210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Temperature–mortality associations and attributable burden in Vojvodina, Serbia, 2000–2020","authors":"Ivan Marinković","doi":"10.1007/s00484-026-03295-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00484-026-03295-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Ambient temperature is a well-established determinant of mortality, yet evidence from temperate continental regions of Central and Southeastern Europe remains limited. Public health attention has largely concentrated on extreme temperature events, notwithstanding growing evidence that non-extreme temperatures may account for a substantial share of temperature-related deaths. We examined the association between daily mean temperature and all-cause mortality in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Serbia, over 2000–2020. Distributed lag non-linear models were used to capture non-linear and delayed temperature effects over a lag period of up to 21 days. Attributable mortality was estimated using a counterfactual framework applied across the full temperature distribution. The temperature–mortality relationship was strongly non-linear and asymmetric. Cold-related effects substantially exceeded those of heat, yielding a temperature-attributable fraction of 9.8% of all deaths. The burden was concentrated at moderately cold temperatures, particularly between 0 and 10 °C, whereas extreme cold and heat each contributed relatively small proportions. Lag–response patterns showed short-lived heat effects compatible with mortality displacement, contrasting with delayed and sustained cold effects persisting over several weeks. In this temperate continental setting, moderate cold is the primary contributor to temperature-related mortality. Public health strategies focused narrowly on rare temperature extremes are unlikely to capture most of this burden. Sustained wintertime risk management and improvements in housing and heating resilience should therefore be central to climate adaptation policy in comparable regions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":588,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Biometeorology","volume":"70 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148719872","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Burden of lower respiratory infections attributable to PM2.5 and the impact of COVID-19 in China and the G20: 1990–2023","authors":"Bin Feng,&nbsp;Ling Chao","doi":"10.1007/s00484-026-03283-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00484-026-03283-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Lower respiratory infections (LRIs) remain a leading cause of mortality worldwide. The study used Global Burden of Disease 2023 data to quantify deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) from LRIs attributable to ambient and household PM_2.5 in China and the G20. Joinpoint regression was applied to assess annual percentage change (APC) and average annual percentage change (AAPC) in age-standardized DALY rate (ASDR), with subgroup analyses by sex. Forest plots visualized AAPC, and loess smoothing was used to examine the association between the Social Development Index (SDI) and LRI burden. From 1990 to 2023, ASDR of LRIs attributable to ambient PM_2.5 generally declined in China and the G20, but reversed upward during 2021–2023 (APC: China 12.76–14.23%; G20 14.94–16.04%). Household PM_2.5-related ASDR continued to decline in China but increased in the G20 since 2021 (APC 8.49–11.20%). In 2023, the LRI burden attributable to ambient and household PM_2.5 was concentrated among children under 5 and older adults (≥ 70 years). During COVID-19, PM_2.5-attributable LRIs affected China’s elderly and children under 5 in the G20. Notably, the mortality rate among Chinese children under 5 was very low. Higher SDI was associated with lower LRI burdens from both ambient and household PM_2.5 across the G20. LRIs attributable to ambient and household PM_2.5 have generally declined, but recent increases highlight emerging risks, with children under 5 and the elderly remaining most vulnerable. Higher SDI is associated with lower burdens, emphasizing the need for targeted PM_2.5 mitigation, particularly for high-risk populations and low-SDI regions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":588,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Biometeorology","volume":"70 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148719806","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Association of atmospheric pressure fluctuations with hemorrhage subtype in spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage","authors":"Gülşen Akçay,&nbsp;Bedriye Müge Sönmez,&nbsp;Murat Özdemir,&nbsp;Nursel Koyuncu,&nbsp;Hakan Doğan,&nbsp;İsmail Borazan,&nbsp;Aycan Özek,&nbsp;Necip Güner","doi":"10.1007/s00484-026-03275-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00484-026-03275-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>To investigate whether short-term changes in meteorological parameters are associated with hemorrhage subtype in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage, with a particular focus on intraparenchymal hemorrhage (IPH) and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). This single-center retrospective observational study included adults presenting to the ED between 2013 and 2022 with spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage confirmed on initial non-contrast computed tomography. Of 901 screened patients, 238 with IPH or SAH were included in the final comparative analysis. Clinical variables and meteorological data, including atmospheric pressure (AP), air temperature, and relative humidity, were recorded. Group comparisons were followed by univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses. Because AP-related variables showed substantial collinearity, full, backward, and forward models were compared, and the final model was selected based on performance and parsimony. AP showed the most consistent association with hemorrhage subtype, whereas air temperature and relative humidity were not consistently related to either group. Event-hour mean AP was independently associated with SAH, whereas 3-day pre-event mean AP was independently associated with IPH. In the final forward multivariable models, headache remained positively associated with SAH, while lateralized neurological findings, systolic blood pressure, family history of hypertension, and 3-day pre-event mean AP were positively associated with IPH. Model discrimination was acceptable, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curves of 0.789 for SAH and 0.823 for IPH. Short-term AP changes, rather than air temperature or relative humidity, were associated with hemorrhage subtype in this ED cohort. Further multicenter studies are needed to validate these findings and clarify underlying mechanisms.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":588,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Biometeorology","volume":"70 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148705003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ecological niche overlap of invasive whiteflies in coconut: insights into invasion ecology and species coexistence in India","authors":"K. Selvaraj,&nbsp;B. Gundappa,&nbsp;B. V. Sumalatha,&nbsp;G. A. Kavya Yadav,&nbsp;J. Vasundhara,&nbsp;S. N. Sushil","doi":"10.1007/s00484-026-03292-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00484-026-03292-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The present study intended to analyze the comprehensive niche overlapping among four invasive whitefly species viz<i>., Aleurodicus rugioperculatus</i> (rugose spiraling whitefly), <i>Paraleyrodes bondari</i> (Bondar’s nesting whitefly), <i>Paraleyrodes minei</i> (nesting whitefly), and <i>Aleurotrachelus atratus</i> (palm infesting whitefly), which invaded successively into the coconut ecosystem during 2016–2019. Analyzing ecological niche overlap among these whiteflies helps understand their invasion dynamics and manage ecological impacts on the coconut. The study is grounded in niche conservatism theory and tests whether co-invasive whiteflies retain their fundamental climatic niches in India, and whether niche overlap reflects non-random climatic convergence consistent with shared ecological filtering. Further, niche equivalency and similarity tests provide a statistical basis for determining whether observed overlaps are greater than expected by chance. Spatial thinning (10 km) and target-group background correction were applied to occurrence records to minimize sampling bias. Study revealed that all four niche models substantially outperform random prediction, with <i>Paraleyrodes bondari</i> exhibiting the highest discriminatory power (AUC = 0.914). Additional model evaluation using True Skill Statistic (TSS) and partial ROC further confirmed robust predictive performance across all species. Across all species, temperature-related variables were more influential than precipitation-related variables. Notably, isothermality (bio03) consistently emerged as the most important predictor for <i>A. rugioperculatus</i>, <i>A. atratus</i>, and <i>P. bondari</i>, whereas <i>P. minei</i> showed a stronger influence of the maximum temperature of the warmest month (bio05). Habitat suitability mapping predicted that southern India has high to moderate suitability for <i>A. rugioperculatus</i>, <i>A. atratus</i>, and <i>P. bondari</i>, and southern and central India for <i>P. minei</i>. Pairwise ecological niche overlap was greatest between <i>A. rugioperculatus</i> and <i>P. minei</i>, and lowest between <i>A. rugioperculatus</i> and <i>P. bondari</i>. Native versus invaded niche comparisons revealed significant niche conservatism in <i>A. rugioperculatus</i> and <i>A. atratus</i>, while <i>P. minei</i> showed the greatest niche shift, expanding into climatic space not occupied in its Neotropical native range. The present study is useful for the spatial ecology of invasive whiteflies, interspecific competition, hotspots for co-infestation, pest risk assessments, and early-warning systems for multi-species management in coconut production systems.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":588,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Biometeorology","volume":"70 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148704988","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Clinical effectiveness of peloid therapy in knee osteoarthritis: a three-year retrospective study of 329 patients","authors":"Nur Gökçe Aydın,&nbsp;Murat Sağlık","doi":"10.1007/s00484-026-03280-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00484-026-03280-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This single-center retrospective study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of peloid therapy in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Patients diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis according to the criteria of the American College of Rheumatology, with a radiographic grade of at least 2 according to the Kellgren–Lawrence radiographic grading system, and who received at least seven sessions of peloid therapy to the knee were retrospectively analyzed between January 2023 and January 2026. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 329 patients were included in the analysis. High-organic-content peloid was heated to approximately 47–48 °C and locally applied to the knee area for approximately 20 min per session, with patients receiving a total of 7–15 treatment sessions over 2–3 weeks. The primary endpoint of the study was defined as the change in the WOMAC total score, while the secondary endpoints included WOMAC subscales, VAS pain, VAS global, VAS physician, and HAQ scores. Statistically significant improvement was observed in all post-treatment clinical assessment parameters compared to pre-treatment (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.001). An average decrease of 33.64 points in the WOMAC total score, approximately 38 points in the VAS pain score, and 0.69 points in the HAQ score was observed. Effect size values ranged from 1.00 to 1.57, indicating a very large treatment effect. In the responder analysis, clinically significant improvement was observed in 67.2% of patients. These findings suggest that peloid therapy may provide significant improvement in pain and functional status in patients with knee osteoarthritis and may be an effective complementary treatment option in clinical practice. However, prospective and controlled studies are needed to support these findings with stronger evidence.</p><p>Not applicable.</p>","PeriodicalId":588,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Biometeorology","volume":"70 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148682813","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The effect of water immersion thermotherapy on sleep quality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials","authors":"Haoqian Chen,&nbsp;Shengbo Gao,&nbsp;Weihao Chen,&nbsp;Binghong Gao","doi":"10.1007/s00484-026-03281-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00484-026-03281-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>A systematic review of the effects of water immersion thermotherapy (WIT) on sleep quality in healthy adults. A comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of science, Embase, Scopus, Ovid MEDLINE, Wiley Online Library, PEDro, CNKI, SinoMed and Yiigle databases. A meta-analysis method was adopted to evaluate the improvement of sleep quality by using WIT. By calculating the standardized mean difference (SMD) and its 95% confidence interval (CI), and selecting either a common effects model or a random effects model for data pooling and analysis. A total of ten randomized controlled trials were included in this study. The results showed that WIT significantly increased total sleep time (SMD = 0.63, <i>P</i> = 0.0438) and significantly improved sleep efficiency (SMD = 0.64, <i>P</i> = 0.0419). However, there were no significant effects on sleep latency (<i>P</i> = 0.0877) or the pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). Furthermore, there were no significant effects on PSQI-total score (<i>P</i> = 0.1136), PSQI-subjective sleep quality (<i>P</i> = 0.3721), PSQI-sleep latency (<i>P</i> = 0.0864), PSQI-sleep duration (<i>P</i> = 0.1402), PSQI-sleep efficiency (<i>P</i> = 0.6793), PSQI-sleep disturbances (<i>P</i> = 0.0580), PSQI-use of sleep medication (<i>P</i> = 0.9991), or PSQI-day time dysfunction (<i>P</i> = 0.6525) among the various indicators of the PSQI. WIT can significantly prolong total sleep time and improve sleep efficiency, but has no significant effect on the improvement of subjective sleep quality, indicating that the sleep-improving effect of WIT has certain limitations.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":588,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Biometeorology","volume":"70 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148663254","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}