Scientists Link 1 In 100 Heart Disease Deaths To Weather Extremes

By The Hill
Posted on 12/12/22 | News Source: The Hill

Exposure to extremely hot or cold temperatures raises a heart disease patient’s risk of dying, according to a new study.

Combing through four decades worth of global data on heart disease patients, the authors found that such extremes were collectively responsible for about 11.3 additional cardiovascular deaths for every 1,000 such incidents.

Patients with heart failure were more likely than those with other types of heart disease to face negative impacts from very cold and hot days, the authors observed, publishing their findings on Monday in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation. 

These individuals experienced a 12-percent greater risk of dying on extreme heat days and a 37-percent increased risk of dying on extreme cold days, in comparison to optimal temperature days in a given city, according to the study. 

The apparent link between temperature extremes and patient outcome “underscores the urgent need to develop measures that will help our society mitigate the impact of climate change on cardiovascular disease,” study co-author Haitham Khraishah, a fellow at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said in a statement.