Heat Waves Impact Older Americans More Than Expected with Several Serious Disorders

Heat waves may be more dangerous than you think. Scientists have identified a handful of potentially serious disorders, including fluid and electrolyte disorders, renal failure, urinary tract infections, sepsis and heat stroke that put older patients at an increased risk of winding up in the hospital during heat waves.

It's well-known that heat waves pose a health risk to older individuals. Previous studies, though, had only investigated a small number of heat-related health outcomes. In this case, the scientists decided to take their studies one step further.

The researchers analyzed 127 billion daily hospitalization rates from 214 diseases in a population of 23.7 million Medicare beneficiaries between 1999 and 2010 in 1,943 counties across the United States. Then, the researchers paired this information from data from more than 4,000 temperature monitors across the country.

So what did they find? It turns out that the greatest risk Americans faced was heat stroke; in fact, people were 2.5 times more likely to be hospitalized from heat stroke during heat waves. In addition, heat waves put the elderly at a 18 percent greater risk for fluid and electrolyte disorders, 14 percent greater risk for renal failure and 10 percent greater risk for urinary tract infections.

"Knowledge of which diseases are most likely to occur during heat waves could help health systems to be better prepared to prevent and treat excess heat-related hospitalizations now and as climate change progresses," said Jennifer Bobb, lead author of the new study, in a news release.

The findings are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

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