Scientists reveal how weather anomalies are killing people with heart disease

Waves of heat and frost can be equally dangerous to life and health, doctors warn.

Photo by: Bernd Lauter / Greenpeace

Extreme high or low temperatures increase the risks of strokes, heart attacks and heart failure. This is the conclusion reached by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), according to the organisation’s press service.

Researchers have carried out a large-scale study analysing the impact of weather anomalies on the incidence of heart and vascular disease, which can lead to death in patients. To do so, they looked at the health records of more than 2.28 million people in five European countries. The average age of those observed was 50 years. The scientists then compared disease statistics with weather data.

The calculations showed that any weather extremes increase the chances of dying from heart and vascular failure. In particular, a sudden (10°C) cold snap in winter increases the chance of dying of coronary heart disease by 22%. Ischaemia is also 4% more likely to develop during freezing temperatures.

At the same time, heat waves increase the risk of death from heart disease by 25% and complications from vascular diseases, primarily strokes, by 30%.

According to medics, heat is a bigger threat than cold. Hot weather increases mortality from cardiovascular diseases by 30%, while frost increases mortality by 19%.

ESC experts have concluded that doctors need to consider temperature conditions when dealing with the most vulnerable patient groups to save them from dying prematurely.

Note that in 2021, an international team of scientists estimated that 5 million people around the world die from heat and cold every year. The researchers’ findings were based on observations over the past 19 years.

The climatologists analysed mortality statistics and weather information from 2000 to 2019 in 750 regions of the world. They found that the average daily temperature at the observed locations increased by 0.26°C per decade.

Scientists have calculated that 9.4% of global population loss per year is due to heat and frost. This is equivalent to 74 extra deaths per 100,000 people.

Observations have shown that people are much more likely to die due to exposure to low temperatures. In recent years, however, the trend has been reversed, with cold weather becoming less lethal and hot weather more deadly.

The highest rates of excess mortality due to high temperatures were recorded in Eastern Europe, while cold weather most often killed sub-Saharan Africans.

According to one of the study’s lead authors, humanity is approaching a tipping point where heat becomes more dangerous than frost.

Cover photo: TommasoT / iStock