Stroke deaths connected to extreme temperatures are disproportionately concentrated in parts of the world with a higher levels of people living in poverty and where health care systems are fragile, like in Africa. In 2019 alone, more than half a million people died due to a stroke linked to high and low temperatures, a new study found. With the world getting warmer due to human-made climate change, that number is expected to rise.
The study authors noted that the number of people having strokes has risen as the population ages and grows, but this doesn’t account for everything. “Nonoptimal temperatures” made a difference: The number of people who had a stroke due to hot and cold temperatures grew and was significantly larger in 2019 than in 1990.
As the planet gets warmer, the study said, the burden of strokes due to high temperature “has increased rapidly” and that number will grow “sharply” in the future.was the warmest since scientists started recording global temperatures in 1850 and temperatures are expected to break more records in the near future. This March was the hottest one on record.
Extreme cold temperatures also can lead someone to have a stroke. When the body is exposed to cold, it stimulates the skin’s cold receptors which triggers what’s known as the. That can cause vasoconstriction, the constriction of blood vessels in the skin, arms, and legs, leading blood pressure to spike and potentially leading to a stroke.