The high temperatures that Spain has experienced this summer have caused more than 12,000 deaths between June and August, with more than 5,300 of these due to the effects of extreme heat.. This new calculation reveals that the number of heat-related deaths is much higher than the Department of Health had originally estimated, confirming that high temperatures could explain more than half of the extreme deaths that occurred during that period.
This is the highest death toll from high temperatures in recent years, and the reason lies in the succession of heatwaves that hit Spain during the summer months. This is the conclusion of a group of researchers from the Supreme Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), the University of Valencia and the Spanish Consortium for Epidemiology and Public Health Research (Ciberesp). Further analyze the phenomenon of death occurring between June and August.
Midsummer, under the heat waves
According to the data compiled by the State Meteorological Institute (Aemet), The summer months ended under heat wave conditions for a total of 42 days (almost half of the summer days).
These 42 days multiply the number of days with the average heatwave recorded between 1981 and 2010, which averaged 6 days, by 7, with the average from 2011 to 2020 more than triple the average of the last decade. 14 days. So far, the record has been held by a 29-day heatwave in 2015. The summer of 2022 was the hottest summer in Spain since the 1960s.
During these months, records of the Carlos III Institute of Health (ISCIII) all-cause daily mortality monitoring system (MoMo) detected an excess of 21,471 deaths; extreme temperatures. With this new model, the group estimated a total of 12,054 heat-related deaths, of which 5,316 were due to days when temperatures rose above 26.5ºC. and therefore they were considered excessive.
Moderate heat deaths were 1,798 in June, 2,588 in July, and 2,356 in August. In June, the 26.5ºC limit was exceeded for five consecutive days, causing 706 deaths. But in June and August the days affected by intense heat were much more, especially two weeks in two months. In June, high temperatures devastated the country from July 10 to July 25, and only then did so again a week later, in a new heatwave that lasted from July 31 to August 13. These long periods of extreme heat caused 3,204 deaths in July and 1,406 in August.
“The difference between July and other months is greater because at that time the heatwave spread throughout the country,” explains Dominic Royé, a physical geographer at the Foundation for Climate Research (FIC) and co-signer of the study.
Comparison with other years also shows that extreme heat took five times more lives than in previous years. Deaths from extreme heat barely reached 1,000 people in 2020 or 2021. In addition, “there is a trend towards inequality such that the most vulnerable people and those with the fewest resources are most likely to die from extreme heat.”
More deaths than the ministry estimated
This explains the heat with new data more than half of the excess deaths that occurred this summer. Much more than 20% estimated by the body affiliated to the Ministry of Health. For the researcher, the differences with the official data are explained with an explanation. “outdated” measurement methods by ISC III. In fact, there are already several experts advocating changing the way in which extreme mortality attributable to heat is measured in official reports.
Royé insists these data should open the eyes of the population to realize that at the height of extreme cold—even above—warmth is a serious danger. “When we talk about death, we’re not just talking about the most classic reference, heatstroke; The worst part of these deaths is due to heart and respiratory diseases.”insists.
Not surprisingly, other research, such as that published by the American Heart Association (AHA), has found a direct relationship between extreme heat and an increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
will be repeated
This situation is far from punctual, It may happen again in the not too distant future.. According to the sixth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), extreme heat waves to the peninsula environment this year may become commonplace.
Spain is one of the countries most affected by the rise in temperatures Due to climate change and today, it is already known that one out of every 3 heat deaths is related to global warming.
But all is not lost. There is still time to adapt or mitigate the effects of this. new threatening. On the one hand, researchers are determined to change habits. “If the weather is too hot, the sensible thing to do would be to protect those working outside by changing their hours or adapting the workplace,” he insists.
On a collective level, Royé also a commitment to create “climate shelters” in cities, for example, in malls that allow the entire population to access healthier temperatures. Other possibilities are green spaces. “When green spaces in cities increase by 20%, temperature decreases by 9%,” explains Royé, insisting that there is “possible causality” between the two phenomena, although there is no causal relationship.
Reference work: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.119.044860
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