UK Nature Medicine: Over 61000 deaths related to high temperatures in Europe last summer | Health | Death | High temperatures
The British journal Nature Medicine recently published a research report analyzing the correlation between the heatwave sweeping Europe last summer and the number of deaths, calling for attention to the impact of global climate change on human health and the implementation of long-term response measures.
According to data from the Global Environment and Safety Monitoring System, last summer was the hottest on record in Europe, with heatwaves causing extreme high temperatures, droughts, and wildfires in many areas. Researchers from Spain and France analyzed temperature and death data from 823 adjacent regions in 35 European countries, involving 543 million people, and found that the number of deaths from the end of May to early September last year was significantly higher than the average in 30 years.
According to Agence France Presse, personnel from the Global Health Institute in Barcelona, Spain and the National Institute of Health and Medicine in France used models to evaluate the number of deaths associated with high temperatures in each region on a weekly basis. According to their estimation, 61672 deaths in Europe from May 30th to September 4th last year were related to high temperatures.
"This is a very high number of deaths," said one of the authors of the report and a researcher at the French National Institute of Health and Medicine, Hisham Akhbach
The above research also shows that Italy, Spain, Germany, and France have the highest number of deaths related to high temperature weather; Among the over 60000 deaths, the elderly population outnumber the young population, and among the population aged 80 and above, the mortality rate among women is 27% higher than that of men.
According to Agence France Presse, previous studies have shown that since the 1980s, the rate of climate change in Europe has been twice the global average. Since the mid-19th century, the global average temperature has risen by nearly 1.2 degrees Celsius, while last year the average temperature in Europe was about 2.3 degrees Celsius higher than before industrialization.
The latest research in the journal Nature Medicine estimates that by 2030, an average of over 68000 people in Europe will die directly or indirectly from hot weather every summer, unless measures are taken to protect people from the effects of climate change; By 2040, this number will rise to 94000; By the middle of this century, it had further risen to over 120000. Akhbak said that if "very effective measures" are taken, the above numbers can be reduced.
Juan Barrester, a researcher at the Barcelona Institute of Global Health, said that I and all climate scientists agree that the less climate change, the better. "This is the important significance of starting to mitigate climate change and reduce population vulnerability as soon as possible."