Extreme heat can exacerbate chronic health conditions, allow infectious diseases to spread, and cause medical emergencies.
ADVERTISEMENTHigh temperatures contributed to more than 47,000 deaths in Europe in 2023, according to a new study that suggests the death toll would have been even higher without mitigation measures put in place since the turn of the century.
Last year was the hottest year on record globally, and among the warmest years in Europe, meaning millions of people were affected by extreme heatwaves, floods, and high temperatures.
Dangerously warm weather can cause medical emergencies like heatstroke, increase the risk that some infectious diseases will spread, and exacerbate chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and asthma.
Last year, an estimated 47,690 people died from heat-related causes, down from approximately 60,000 in 2022 but higher than every other year since at least 2015, according to the study published in the journal Nature Medicine.
“We see every year a really high number of mortalities, and these trends are increasing,” Elisa Gallo, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral researcher studying environmental and health issues at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, told Euronews Health.
“We should worry about [the deaths], and also worry about the temperatures that are increasing, and are increasing really fast”.
Steps to combat climate change
Even so, the death toll could have been much worse, the study found.
Researchers believe that the number of deaths would have been 80 per cent higher in 2023 if governments hadn’t taken steps to adapt to climate change from the early 2000s onwards.
Most changes came after 2003, when a broiling summer led to more than 70,000 estimated deaths and prompted many European countries to launch early warning systems and heat prevention plans.
Older people, who are especially vulnerable to heat, could have seen a death toll that was twice as high in 2023 without those adjustments, researchers said.
“We are going in a positive direction in terms of education, climate protection, and mitigation, but it can be done more,” Andreas Matzarakis, a professor in the University of Freiburg’s environment and natural resources department who was not involved in the study, told Euronews Health.
That could include tweaks to help people during heatwaves, like improving hydration and ensuring people are sleeping in cooler temperatures, as well as broader policy measures such as climate-oriented city planning and efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
“We need to have actions which can be fast-implemented and are inexpensive,” Matzarakis said.
The study has some limitations. The mortality estimates are based on publicly available data that don’t capture the exact cause of death.
Hottest months recorded
Researchers compared the death data against weekly temperature figures, and estimated how many of those deaths were a result of heat.
ADVERTISEMENTGallo said that while weekly temperature data can mask individual days of extreme heat, more granular data for an analysis of this scale just isn't available.
Notably, Southern Europe is particularly hard-hit by dangerously high temperatures.
In the study, Greece saw the highest heat-related mortality rate in 2023, at 393 deaths per million, followed by Bulgaria (229), Italy (209), Spain (175), Cyprus (167), and Portugal (136).
The findings come as the Greek authorities battle vicious wildfires near Athens that have forced hospitals and residential areas to evacuate. June and July were the country’s hottest months recorded.
ADVERTISEMENT“The most important message is that we need to act on the cause of this – climate change,” Gallo said.
