Table 1.

Epidemiologic research needs in support of adaptation planning.

Research Need	Description
Documenting adaptation trends	Assessing trends in heat-health response over time, based on local data, can provide valuable insight into heat adaptation trends
Evaluating the effectiveness of planned interventions	Consistent methods are needed for evaluating the effectiveness of heat-health interventions
Syndromic surveillance	Real-time surveillance of heat-related health syndromes can provide data of use in resource mobilization during heat events
Targeting interventions to those most vulnerable	Heat vulnerability maps need to be developed that take into account local, fine-scaled health outcome data
Projecting future health impacts	Exposure response functions and adaptation assumptions are needed for assessing impacts of future climate scenarios
Health relevance of spatial patterns of exposure	Recent evidence suggests that outdoor temperatures can vary substantially within urban areas depending on local land use. Understanding implications for health will be important.
Assessment of personal exposures	Virtually no data are yet available assessing actual exposures of vulnerable populations during heat events.
Quantifying the impacts of power failures	Epidemiology is needed for quantifying the health impacts of heat events that coincide with power failures