Cold-weather accounts for almost all temperature-related deaths

Date:
August 18, 2020
Source:
University of Illinois at Chicago
Summary:
With the number of extreme weather days rising around the globe in
recent years due to global warming, it is no surprise that there
has been an upward trend in hospital visits and admissions for
injuries caused by high heat over the last several years. But cold
temperatures are responsible for almost all temperature-related
deaths, according to a new study.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
With the number of extreme weather days rising around the globe in
recent years due to global warming, it is no surprise that there has
been an upward trend in hospital visits and admissions for injuries
caused by high heat over the last several years. But cold temperatures
are responsible for almost all temperature-related deaths, according to
a new study published in the journal Environmental Research.


========================================================================== According to the new study by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago, patients who died because of cold temperatures were responsible
for 94% of temperature-related deaths, even though hypothermia was
responsible for only 27% of temperature-related hospital visits.

"With the decrease in the number of cold weather days over the last
several decades, we still see more deaths due to cold weather as opposed
to hot weather," said Lee Friedman, associate professor of environmental
and occupational health sciences in the UIC School of Public Health and corresponding author on the paper. "This is in part due to the body's
poorer ability to thermoregulate once hypothermia sets in, as well as
since there are fewer cold weather days overall, people don't have time
to acclimate to cold when those rarer cold days do occur." Hypothermia,
or a drop in the body's core temperature, doesn't require sub- arctic
temps. Even mildly cool temperatures can initiate hypothermia, defined
as a drop in body temperature from the normal 98.7 degrees to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. When this occurs, organs and systems begin to shut down in
an effort to preserve the brain. The process, once started, can be very difficult to get under control; however, people who are more regularly
exposed to lower temperatures are better able to resist hypothermia.

"People who were experiencing homelessness in the records we looked
at were less likely to die from temperature-related injury," Friedman
said. "Because they have greater outdoor exposure, they acclimate
better to both heat and cold." Heat-related issues are more likely to self-resolve by getting to a cooler place or by hydrating, Friedman said.



==========================================================================
The researchers looked at inpatient and outpatient heat- and cold-related injuries that required a hospital visit in Illinois between 2011 and
2018. They identified 23,834 cold-related cases and 24,233 heat-related
cases. Among these patients, there were 1,935 cold-related deaths and
70 heat-related deaths.

Friedman said government data systems that track temperature-related
deaths significantly undercount these deaths.

"We found five to 10 times more temperature-related deaths by
linking the hospital data to data from the National Weather Service
and medical examiner's data," he said. "There are a lot more people
dying from temperature-related injuries than is generally reported."
Friedman and his colleagues also found that cumulative costs associated
with temperature-related hospital visits were approximately $1 billion
between 2011 and 2018 in Illinois.

Adults older than age 65 and Black people were almost twice as likely
to be hospitalized due to temperature-related injuries. Individuals who
visited a hospital due to cold temperatures also commonly had multiple
health issues, including electrolyte disorders, cardiovascular disease
and kidney failure.

"Currently, the public health community focuses almost exclusively on
heat injury. Our data demonstrate that improved awareness and education
are needed around the risk for cold injuries, especially since there
are fewer but more severe cold weather days -- leaving less chance for acclimation, which can be protective against hypothermia," Friedman said.

Chibuzor Abasilim, Rosalinda Fitts and Michelle Wueste from UIC are
co-authors on the paper.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_Illinois_at_Chicago. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Lee S. Friedman, Chibuzor Abasilim, Rosalinda Fitts, Michelle
Wueste.

Clinical outcomes of temperature related injuries treated in the
hospital setting, 2011-2018. Environmental Research, 2020; 189:
109882 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.109882 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200818142149.htm

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