Heat is the number one climate and weather-related killer every year of Americans, more than hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes.

Published in a pair of studies from author, Sameed Ahmed M. Khatana, in journals JAMA Open Network and Circulation, brought greater awareness on the impact of heat on mortality.

The first study, the researchers explored period of extreme heat with recrods of adults deaths from all causes across the contiguous US’s 3,108 counties from 2008 to 2017. In this study, they found higher-levels of all-cause mortality in the periods of extreme heat. The death rates were higher in older adults, males, and African Americans.

In the second study, they looked specifically at monthly records of cardiovascular deaths from 2008 to 2017 during periods of extreme heat. They found that extreme heat is associated with an additional total 6,000 deaths across all US counties. This particularly impacted males more than females.

With both the US’s shitty healthy status and climate change, we’re only expecting both the periods of extreme heat and associated mortality to increase. Whether or not one believes in human-induced climate change, the science is clear, for the sake of public health, it is better to err on the side that there is human-induced climate change and do something about it rather than not doing anything about it while sitting in denial.

SAM Khatana et al. Association of extreme heat with all-cause mortality in the contiguous US, 2008-2017. JAMA Network Open.  DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.12957

SAM Khatana et al. Association of extreme heat and cardiovascular mortality in the United States: A county-level longitudinal analysis from 2008 to 2017. Circulation. DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.122.060746