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Heat-related deaths under-estimated as temperatures and extreme heat events increase

May 26, 2020 at 11:43 pm John Englart 1 comment

Moreland’s social heat vulnerability

Researchers at the Australian National University say that heat related deaths have been greatly underestimated. In the 11 years between January 2006 and October 2017 an estimated 36,765 deaths in Australia can be attributed to heat-related causes.

As we know climate change is increasing average temperatures and the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events in Australia.

Moreland is particularly vulnerable to extreme heat being a heavily built up urban environment where the urban heat island effect is strong. The urban tree canopy in Moreland is still declining due to urban consolidation and development overwhelming the Council program for planting 5000 new trees a year. We also have large cohorts of vulnerable populations, such as elderly people and non-english speaking migrants.

Researchers have already warned that Sydney and Melbourne may soon experience extreme heat days over 50 degrees Celsius during summer heat events.

According to the researchers, the amount of deaths attributed to excessive natural heat is at least 50 times more than recorded on death certificates.

Correspondence published in the medical journal, Lancet Planetary Health, argues that over the past 11 years 340 deaths in Australia were recorded as being due to excessive heat but statistical analysis found 36,765 deaths could have been attributed to heat.

“Climate change is a killer, but we don’t acknowledge it on death certificates,” co-author Dr Arnagretta Hunter, from the ANU Medical School, said.

“There is second component on a death certificate which allows for pre-existing conditions and other factors.

“If you have an asthma attack and die during heavy smoke exposure from bushfires, the death certificate should include that information.

“We can make a diagnosis of disease like coronavirus, but we are less literate in environmental determinants like hot weather or bushfire smoke.”

The new analysis suggests Australia’s national heat-related mortality rate is around two per cent.

“Climate change is the single greatest health threat that we face globally even after we recover from coronavirus,” Dr Hunter said.

“We are successfully tracking deaths from coronavirus, but we also need healthcare workers and systems to acknowledge the relationship between our health and our environment.

“In Australia heat is the most dominant risk posed from climate change.”

The researchers say death certification needs to be modernised to reflect the impact of large-scale environmental events.

“We know the summer bushfires were a consequence of extraordinary heat and drought and people who died during the bushfires were not just those fighting fires – many Australians had early deaths due to smoke exposure,” Dr Hunter said.

The correspondence to the Lancet Planetary Health argues that:

Climate change is a concern to many people. But if the effect of extreme temperatures is not recorded, its full impact can never be understood. Death certification needs to be modernised, indirect causes should be reported, with all death certification prompting for external factors contributing to death, and these death data must be coupled with large-scale environmental datasets so that impact assessments can be done.

Study: Heat related deaths under reported

Sources:

• Adapted from ANU media release: Calls to add ‘Climate Change to Death Certificates
• Thomas Longden, Simon Quilty, Philip Haywood, Arnagretta Hunter, Russell Gruen, Lancet Planetary health, 1 May 2020, Heat-related mortality: an urgent need to recognise and record
  DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30100-5

Entry filed under: climate change info, health, heatwave, news. Tags: extreme heat, heat health, science.