Extreme heat can take a heavy toll on the heart, and a new report shows how much more deadly the effects of climate change may become over the next few decades in the United States. Black adults, seniors and people living in urban areas are particularly vulnerable.Extreme heat can take a heavy toll on the heart, and a new report shows how much more deadly the effects of climate change may become over the next few decades in the United States.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US overall and extreme heat causes a small share of total cardiovascular deaths in the US — about 1 in 500 right now, said Dr. Lawrence Fine, a senior adviser at the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which partially funded the new research.
The new study’s findings are based on projections about population growth and migration in the US, as well as trends in greenhouse gas emissions from a report by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The analysis captured projections for the years 2036 through 2065, based on county-level data for the 48 states in the contiguous US.
Heat-related fatalities have risen dramatically in the US in recent years. In 2022, more than 1,700 deaths were due to heat-related causes, according to an analysis of data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – more than doubling over the past five years.
Black adults in the US are particularly vulnerable to theheart-related harms of extreme heat. Over the next few decades, heat-related cardiovascular deaths could grow six-fold among Black adults in the US, according to the scenarios analyzed in the study – compared with a projected 2.4 times increase among White adults in the worst-case scenario.