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Heatwave and risk of heat-related burn injury in children in Western Australia

Lisa Martin, Sally A Burrows and Fiona M Wood
Med J Aust 2015; 203 (2): . || doi: 10.5694/mja14.01544
Published online: 20 July 2015

To the Editor: Hot weather causes heat exhaustion, sunburn and contact burns. Each summer, children with these injuries attend Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Western Australia. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation has recently proposed a definition for heatwave, requiring 3 days or more of high maximum and minimum temperatures that are unusual for a specific location.1 This is based on an excessive heat index numerical prediction model2 that is being tested by the Bureau of Meteorology for heatwave forecasting.3 Are local weather observations associated with an increase in these types of hot weather-related injury in children?


  • 1 University of Western Australia, Perth, WA.
  • 2 Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, Perth, WA.
  • 3 Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, WA.



Acknowledgements: 

We thank the Fiona Wood Foundation for financial and logistical support.

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

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