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Columbia Climate School: High Heat Is Preferentially Killing the Young, Not the Old, New Research Finds [View all]
https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2024/12/06/high-heat-is-preferentially-killing-the-young-not-the-old-new-research-finds/High Heat Is Preferentially Killing the Young, Not the Old, New Research Finds
Kevin Krajick
December 6, 2024
Many recent studies assume that elderly people are at particular risk of dying from extreme heat as the planet warms. A new study of mortality in Mexico turns this assumption on its head: it shows that 75% of heat-related deaths are occurring among people under 35―a large percentage of them ages 18 to 35, or the very group that one might expect to be most resistant to heat.
“It’s a surprise. These are physiologically the most robust people in the population,” said study coauthor Jeffrey Shrader of the Center for Environmental Economics and Policy, an affiliate of Columbia University’s Climate School. “I would love to know why this is so.” The research appears this week in the journal Science Advances.
The researchers chose Mexico for the study because it collects highly granular geographical data on both mortality and daily temperatures. The researchers reached their conclusions by correlating excess mortality―that is, the number of deaths above or below the average―with temperatures on the so-called wet-bulb scale, which measures the magnified effects of heat when combined with humidity.
The analysis found that from 1998 to 2019, the country suffered about 3,300 heat-related deaths per year. Of these, nearly a third occurred in people ages 18 to 35―a figure far out of proportion with the numbers in that age bracket. Also highly vulnerable: children under 5, especially infants. Surprisingly, people 50 to 70 suffered the least amount of heat-related mortality.
…
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adq3367Kevin Krajick
December 6, 2024
Many recent studies assume that elderly people are at particular risk of dying from extreme heat as the planet warms. A new study of mortality in Mexico turns this assumption on its head: it shows that 75% of heat-related deaths are occurring among people under 35―a large percentage of them ages 18 to 35, or the very group that one might expect to be most resistant to heat.
“It’s a surprise. These are physiologically the most robust people in the population,” said study coauthor Jeffrey Shrader of the Center for Environmental Economics and Policy, an affiliate of Columbia University’s Climate School. “I would love to know why this is so.” The research appears this week in the journal Science Advances.
The researchers chose Mexico for the study because it collects highly granular geographical data on both mortality and daily temperatures. The researchers reached their conclusions by correlating excess mortality―that is, the number of deaths above or below the average―with temperatures on the so-called wet-bulb scale, which measures the magnified effects of heat when combined with humidity.
The analysis found that from 1998 to 2019, the country suffered about 3,300 heat-related deaths per year. Of these, nearly a third occurred in people ages 18 to 35―a figure far out of proportion with the numbers in that age bracket. Also highly vulnerable: children under 5, especially infants. Surprisingly, people 50 to 70 suffered the least amount of heat-related mortality.
…
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