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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Heat caused record-high rates of health emergencies in some parts of
the US last year, CDC report shows
By Deidre McPhillips, CNN
Updated:
1:01 PM EDT, Thu April 18, 2024
Source: CNN
Last summer was the hottest ever recorded in the United States, and
heat-related health emergencies also reached record-high levels in some
parts of the country.
In the United States, the vast majority of emergency department visits
for — such as heat stroke, heat cramps and sunburns — happen during
the warm season that lasts from May through September, peaking in July
and August, according to surveillance collected by the US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
During the warm season last year, heat-related illnesses accounted for
a 20% larger share of emergency department visits than they did in the
five previous seasons. Data from hundreds of emergency departments
across the country shows that 180 out of every 100,000 total visits
were due to heat-related illness in 2023, compared with 151 out of
every 100,000 total visits from 2018 to 2022.
The risks of peak heat are also becoming more extreme, with the rate of
heat-related emergency department visits surging above peaks from
previous years and other parts of the same warm season. In July and
August of last year, there were more than 300 heat-related emergencies
for every 100,000 total emergency department visits, CDC data shows.
That’s nearly 50% higher than the average peak rate from 2018 to
2022, and about three times higher than the rate from other warm-season
months in the same year. In previous years, risk during the peak heat
season was about twice as high as in other warm months in the same
year.
The US Department of Health and Human Services considers a day to be an
day if the temperature rises above 95% of the average historical
temperatures in that region. The CDC assessed trends in heat-related
emergency department visits against a similar threshold.
In 2023, all regions of the US experienced at least one day where the
rate of heat-related emergency department visits reached an extreme
level, topping 95% of rates from 2018 to 2022. In a particular
southern region — encompassing Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico,
Oklahoma and Texas — emergency department visits for heat-related
illness reached this extreme level for more than a third of 2023’s
warm season, including a period of 16 consecutive days. In four
southern regions, comprised of 21 states, 2023 brought more days with
extreme rates of emergency department visits for heat-related illness
than any other year on record.
“Deaths and illnesses associated with heat exposure are a continuing
public health concern as climate change results in longer, hotter, and
more frequent episodes of extreme heat,” CDC experts wrote in a
report that published Thursday. “Near real-time monitoring of weather
conditions and adverse health outcomes can guide public health
practitioners’ timing of risk communication and implementation of
prevention measures associated with extreme heat.”
Last August, HHS’ Office of Climate Change and Health Equity in
partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
launched a that uses data from the National EMS Information System to
track the rates of EMS responses to 911 calls for heat-related illness
and injury. Data updates weekly with a lag of no more than two weeks,
showing where states and counties fall relative to the national average
and disparities by age, race, gender and urban-rural area.
“Heat is the most lethal of all types of extreme weather and heat
exposure is worsening with increasing global warming,” Dr. John
Balbus, acting director of the HHS Office of Climate Change and Health
Equity, said at the time. “But existing data on heat-related deaths
don’t shed light on where people actually fall ill. This new
dashboard makes it possible to see where the needs are greatest, plan
for the future, and save lives.”
CDC has also used collected from health departments that participate in
the National Syndromic Surveillance Program Surveillance System for the
Early Notification of Community-Based Epidemics (ESSENCE) to monitor
heat-related health trends. In June and August, high levels of
heat-related emergency department visits prompted the agency to issue
public health alerts, according to Thursday’s report.
The new CDC analysis may underestimate the prevalence of heat-related
illnesses since it doesn’t capture cases among people who sought
treatment elsewhere, and the Covid-19 pandemic may have generally
affected health care utilization patterns. Broad regional analysis may
also obscure more local trends.
Understanding regional trends and differences in emergency department
visits for heat-related illness can help public health officials better
develop and implement intervention strategies, according to the new CDC
report.
“Effective implementation of heat mitigation strategies is associated
with social determinants of health,” the authors wrote, such as
access to air conditioning, cooling spaces and reliable power grids.
Certain groups are particularly susceptible to the health risks of heat
waves, including children and adults with underlying health conditions,
pregnant women and outdoor workers. In July, President Joe Biden asked
the Department of Labor to issue a “hazard alert” for heat and ramp
up enforcement to protect workers from extreme heat.
“For years, heat has been the number one cause of weather-related
deaths in America. And workers, including farmworkers, farmers,
firefighters, and construction workers, are disproportionately impacted
by extreme heat,” the administration wrote in a on the “hazard
alert” proposal.
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