extreme heat fueled by climate crisis It is often considered as the first problem for vulnerable segments of the population, such as the elderly. It’s true that people under the age of 35 suffer heat-related deaths as temperatures soar, new research has suggested.
While older people are susceptible to heat, they now make up the bulk of cold-related deaths. As the world heats up, it will be younger people who will bear a proportional shift in the burden of mortality, with a new study estimating a 32% increase in deaths among people under 35 this century from the heat if greenhouse gas emissions do not cut completely.
“Most of the discussion about vulnerability to heat focuses on the elderly, but we found a surprising source of inequality in that most heat mortality in younger people,” said Andrew Wilson, a Columbia University researcher who led the study; Published in Journal of Sciencewith ninety other scientists. “We don’t think we want to find out.”
The study was based on data from deaths in Mexico, in a region with extensive mortality records and high “humidity bubble” temperatures, which is a measure of the amount of moisture needed to identify the degree of heat stress on humans.
Researchers found that in the two decades up to 2019, 75% died from heat among those younger than 35, on the contrary, almost all cold-related deaths were those older than 50.
Since the majority of temperature-related deaths in Mexico, as in most countries, now occur due to cold weather, the growing problem of extreme heat is likely to balance the trend of younger deaths, research suggests. This model may well be replicated in other countries such as the US and Europe, Wilson said, because of the basic similarities in how different age groups react to temperature.
“We see that cold-related deaths are falling, especially for the elderly, while reducing temperatures will increase deaths,” he added. “Climate change here and how we adapt to it will be the most important determinant of human health in the future. We shouldn’t move wealth away from the elderly, but we certainly need to think more about the risks faced by the younger.
There is no single answer as to why the risk is increased in younger people, but the researchers said that there are likely to be several factors, such as physiological differences, for example, children cannot sweat to release heat and are dependent on caregivers. such as occupational hazards, such as the working age of people who work abroad while engaged in agricultural and construction work.
In the US, the Biden administration has spent the past three years passing the first federal regulations to protect workers from excessive heatbut this is the future of the institution back wound by the incoming president Donald Trump.
Higher youth mortality is influenced by the heat in a country like Mexico, because there are more young people than old people in the population, as well as the risks of working in the fields under the sun, said Kristie Ebi, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington. who in no way
“But routine exposure to higher temperatures also increases acclimatization, which should lead to a lower risk,” Ebi said, adding that more research is needed to fully understand this model and if it could be extended to other regions.
“This study provides greater importance in understanding how different population segments are affected by rising temperatures and it is possible that, at least in Mexico, climate change will lead to a greater number of heat-related deaths in younger people,” he said. Sameed Khatana, a medical doctor and researcher at Penn found in his work Heat-related cardiovascular deaths are set to rise in the coming decades due to the climate crisis.
Khatana said young people are exposed to heat through work, school and recreational activities and “are likely to experience a disproportionate impact from climate change.”
“This highlights the importance of thinking about targeted measures, such as work breaks for people working in hot environments, or rescheduling sporting events to avoid extreme heat,” he said.