Study: High wet temperature kills more young than old

The heat are known to be life-threatening for the elderly. Published last week in the study surprisingly, it turned out that humid heat can be an even more significant danger for young people.

A team of researchers from several US universities looked at mortality in Mexico, which has a particularly hot and humid climate, as well as accurate age-specific mortality statistics.

Heat is not often noted as a cause of death, but the researchers statistically looked at the variation of mortality in Mexicans of different ages in relation to the wet temperature.

It turned out that between 1998 and 2019, as many as 75 percent of those who died as a result of the heat were under the age of 35.

On the other hand, 96 percent of those who lost their lives due to the cold were over 50 years old.

Consistent with previous research was the finding that extreme heat was particularly dangerous for those over 70.

The least heat increased mortality in the 50-70 age group.

Over here until now, most studies have looked at the elderly population.

The new study was also unusual because it looked at mortality in relation to wet temperature, which measures the combined effect of air temperature and humidity.

Air humidity has a decisive effect on a person’s thermoregulation, because the body cools itself by sweating. Evaporation of sweat takes away heat from the skin and thus cools the person.

As humidity increases, evaporation decreases.

Wet temperature can be measured with a thermometer wrapped in a wet cloth. When water evaporates from the fabric, the thermometer cools down – just like human skin.

Major some of the weather-related deaths of Mexicans already occurred in wet temperatures of around 24 degrees Celsius. It roughly corresponds to a dry temperature of 31 degrees in an air humidity of 50 percent.

According to the study, children under the age of five were especially at risk.

The researchers speculated that the reason is that infants sweat less than adults and their thermoregulation is weaker. Children also lack opportunities to influence their circumstances or move to a cooler environment.

In young adults, careless activities can lead to death, for example camping and heavy exercise in the heat.

On the other hand, poor people in a poor country are forced to do heavy work in any weather conditions.

These factors may influence the fact that the mortality of young people increased in the study already at a lower wet temperature than that of the elderly.

Climate change is making such moderate heat waves much more common. The research team predicts that weather-related deaths of children and young people will increase significantly by the end of the century.

Experimental research has shown that the heat becomes unbearable for the human body at a wet temperature of 31 degrees Celsius at the latest.

When the skin can no longer remove the heat produced by metabolism, the body’s core temperature starts to rise. When it rises to 42–43 degrees, a person dies.