Cold-weather accounts for almost all temperature-related deaths

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-08/uoia-caf081820.php

 

News Release 18-Aug-2020
University of Illinois at Chicago

 

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.

•••••

"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."

•••••