What you need to know
- A study by Australian researchers has found that heat is a major factor of heart disease.
- The disease burden of heat-related heart diseases could double if global temperatures continue to rise.
- Researchers are calling for health measures protect people from the effects of heat.
Researchers have found rising global temperatures are making cardiovascular diseases more debilitating.
A new study, published in the journal the European Journal of Cardiology, found heat is now a major factor of cardiovascular disease burden for people in .
Currently, cardiovascular diseases are the second highest contributor of fatal health burden in Australia. They include coronary heart disease — the nation’s single biggest killer — atrial fibrillation, heart attacks, congenital heart disease, heart failure and stroke.
High blood pressure, high cholesterol, inactivity, poor nutrition, and stress are well known risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, but the study highlights how has been overlooked.
“The burden of disease for cardiovascular disease due to hot weather in the context of climate change might double [in the next 25 years],” said the study’s lead author Peng Bi, a public health expert at the University of Adelaide, Australia.
The study contributes to a that heat caused by human-made climate change is a growing health concern.
“[This] is a quite alarming call to our community, to our service providers and to our policymakers,” Bi told DW.
Heat burden leads to unhealthy hearts
The study analyzed health data from the Australian population between 2003-2018. The study is the first to find that high temperatures have a major impact on cardiovascular health.
The analysis found that Australia’s population lost almost 50,000 years of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) from heat-related cardiovascular diseases annually during that period.
DALYs measure the overall burden of a disease in a population. It is a calculation of the years of “healthy” life lost by a disease, either from living with a disability or by dying prematurely.
The study found that people living in hotter parts of Australia in the Northern Territory are at greatest risk of heat-related cardiovascular disease burden.
Modelling undertaken by the research group also found that heat-related heart diseases are expected to more double as global temperatures .
Heat adaptation will be critical for vulnerable groups
Bi said that his findings mean authorities need to consider new measures to protect vulnerable populations from heat-related health issues.
“People with chronic diseases, older people, people with low socioeconomic status — they are at high risk,” Bi said.
This includes “check ins” with vulnerable groups. Following a severe heatwave in 2009, Bi worked with local authorities to introduce a telephone check-up system.
“During the hot days, university volunteer students sitting in the Red Cross made a phone call to senior citizens twice a day to check whether they were OK. If yes, that’s fine, otherwise we had some follow-up mechanism actions,” Bi said.
Other measures include educating behavioral changes to adapt to heat. These recommendations include:
- Staying cool and indoors where possible on hot days.
- Reducing physical activity levels.
- Reducing outdoor sun exposure.
- Remaining hydrated.
- Using air-conditioning to lower indoor temperatures.
Does this data apply to the rest of the world?
The research only included health data from the Australian population, meaning it is difficult to extrapolate the data to other parts of the world, said Filippo Crea, a cardiologist at Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.
“[However,] it is definitely reasonable to assume that the trend is the same [in other regions],” Crea told DW.
“In Australia, climate change on average is greater than in Europe, so this is one extreme,” Crea added.
The Australian study does align with data from other countries showing that rising temperatures are driving health issues.
In 2017, studies anticipated as much as 70% of India’s population could be exposed to .
A a 32% increase in temperature-related deaths in those aged under 35 would occur by 2100 if global population and carbon emissions continue to grow at the same pace.
Bi and his colleagues wrote that future studies are needed to assess how people can adapt to climate change, particularly in those most vulnerable to health conditions driven by heat.
Edited by: Fred Schwaller
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