A recent study found that higher heat and air pollution were associated with an increased use of radiography and CT scans.
The study, published Nov. 19 in Radiology, analyzed more than 1.6 million emergency department imaging studies and linked the imaging with daily environmental data. This included fine particulate matter and ambient temperature over the course of 10 years.
The study found that a rise in temperature and a rise in the average fine particulate matter were associated with an overall imaging utilization of 5.2% and 4%, respectively.
Heat exposure days were associated with same-day excess absolute risk of 5.5 imaging studies per 1 million people at risk per day. For air pollution exposure days, the risk rose 6.4 image studies per 1 million people.
Particularly, radiography and CT scans had an increase in utilization, but not US or MRIs.