LONDON — England’s scorching summer that sent temperatures to record-breaking highs has now been linked to a record number of excess deaths among the elderly.
England’s summer heat waves linked to record excess deaths among elderly
On July 19, temperatures soared above 104 degrees Fahrenheit, or 40 degrees Celsius, the hottest day ever recorded in Britain. Train tracks buckled, several fires broke out across greater London, and in some areas officials issued their first ever “level 4 heat health alerts.” Scientists said the heat wave had been made at least 10 times as likely because of human-caused climate change.
It can take some time to understand the wider impact of those temperatures, including on mortality figures, in part because deaths may not be registered immediately.
The agencies looked at the period between June and August, which featured several periods of punishing heat, with some heat waves occurring much earlier in the summer than usual. The UKHSA used data from England only — not Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the three other nations of the United Kingdom, where health is a devolved issue.
“These estimates show clearly that high temperatures can lead to premature death for those who are vulnerable,” Isabel Oliver, chief scientific officer at UKHSA, said in a statement. “Higher excess deaths occurred during the hottest days this year and a warming climate means we must adapt to living safely with hotter summers in the future.”
Climate scientists say that climate change is making periods of intense heat waves more frequent and that more needs to be done to prepare for extreme heat and the increased risk for those most vulnerable.
The term “excess deaths” is used to refer to the number of deaths that exceed what is normally expected for that time of year.
The agencies said that between July 17 and 20, there was an estimated 1,012 excess deaths in those older than 65. They said the period with the highest overall excess mortality in the elderly was from Aug. 8 to 17, with an estimated 1,458 excess deaths recorded in those over 65.
Sarah Caul, head of mortality analysis at the Office for National Statistics, explained in a summer blog post that the most common causes of death are conditions such as respiratory failure, heart disease and Alzheimer’s. “It is likely that some of these deaths are hastened by circumstances associated with extreme heat,” she wrote.
Other European countries have similarly connected thousands of excess deaths over the summer to the intense heat.
France’s national statistics institute reported last month that more than 13,000 more people died between June 1 and Aug. 31 compared with the same period before the pandemic, an increase “likely to be explained by the heat wave in mid-July, after an initial heat wave episode as early as mid-June.”
Excluding covid deaths, German officials reported more than 3,000 excess deaths in the week of July 18, while Spain recorded more than 2,700 excess deaths in the week of July 11 and nearly 2,500 in the following week.
Source: WP
