After a record-hot summer, the heat-fueled hurricanes that recently struck North Carolina and Florida raise more alarms for the future of health and vitality on a rapidly warming planet. Penn LDI fellows and Perelman School of Medicine faculty Sameed Ahmed M. Khatana, Ashwin Nathan, Lauren Eberly, Jagadeesh Puvvula, and colleagues are among those concerned.
In their new study, the team looks to understand the pressing implications of climate change on mortality in the U.S. Khatana and the team find that extreme temperature days are associated with 8,249 deaths per year, based on data from 2008 to 2019. Looking ahead, they project that extreme heat days could result in about 19,349 deaths per year under a lower greenhouse gas emissions increase scenario, or as many as 26,574 deaths annually in a higher emissions scenario. That’s an increase of 134% or 222%, depending on the scenario. Black and Hispanic adults are expected to bear the brunt of this increase.
“Extreme heat exposure can impact the body in numerous ways, exacerbating pre-existing cardiovascular, respiratory, or kidney conditions, among others,” explains Khatana. “For example, extreme heat causes the heart to work harder to expel heat from the body. It can also lead to increased inflammation. For someone with pre-existing heart disease, this can cause complications like heart attacks or heart failure, which, in some cases, may lead to death. In cases of prolonged heat exposure, people can develop heat stroke, a dangerous medical condition that can lead to multi-organ failure and death.”
Khatana highlights the disparity in the effects of climate change in Black and Hispanic populations. “Although most groups and locations are projected to experience an increase in extreme temperature-associated mortality, Hispanic and Black adults are projected to see a greater increase compared to non-Hispanic white adults,” he says. “This is likely due to differences in population growth rates and geographic distribution. We found that people living in metropolitan areas, which tend to have a higher proportion of racial and ethnic minorities, also had a greater projected increase.”
This story is by Mackenzie Bolas. Read more at Penn LDI.
