1 in 3 heat stroke deaths is due to global warming?

It is known that the increase in temperature caused by climate change and the like has various effects on the human body. Among them, heat stroke is a symptom with a serious risk of death. According to a study examining the relationship between heat stroke deaths and climate change around the world, 37% of heat stroke deaths from 1991 to 2018 were likely due to the increase in temperature caused by global warming.

Various studies have been conducted on the effects of climate change on human health, but no large-scale study specifically examining the relationship between heat stroke and climate change has been conducted. A research team from the University of London School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine conducted a study to calculate the number of deaths attributed to additional temperature increases due to anthropogenic warming between 1991 and 2018 using data obtained from 732 points in 43 countries around the world.

In this study, we first searched virtual data and sign data from 732 points and quantified the relationship between temperature and mortality at each point. The following is a comparison of mortality rates with and without anthropogenic climate change, and calculated the number of deaths from heat stroke that occurred naturally and the number of deaths from heat stroke caused by global warming.

As a result, they found that 37% of heat stroke deaths in 43 countries may have been caused by rising temperatures due to global warming. The proportion of heat stroke deaths attributed to global warming is highest in Latin America and up to 76% in Ecuador and Colombia. In Southeast Asia, it is estimated that more than half of heat stroke deaths (48-61%) are due to global warming.

The study also calculated the number of deaths per city, and in Santiago, the capital of Chile, an additional 136 deaths per year due to global warming was caused by warming, accounting for 44.3% of the city’s heat stroke deaths. Similarly, Tokyo 156 (35.6%), Athens 189 (26.1%), Rome, Italy 172 (32%), Madrid, Spain 177 (31.9%), Bangkok, Thailand 146 (53.4%), London, UK 82 ( 33.6%), 141 people in New York (44.2%) in the United States, and 137 people in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam (48.5%) are considered to have died from heat stroke caused by climate change.

The study’s findings clearly show that people around the world are already facing the catastrophic consequences of anthropogenic climate change, far from the devastating effects of climate change in the future. Related information can be found here.