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Risk of heat-related disease and death is rising worldwide due to climate change, a new report warns.
Hotter temperatures threaten the elderly and other vulnerable people with heat stress, and heart and kidney disease, according to an international team of experts.
Last year, more than 157 million at-risk people were exposed to heat waves worldwide. That was 18 million more than in 2016, the researchers said.
“Trends in the impacts of climate change, exposures and vulnerabilities show unacceptably high risk for health now and in the future,” said study author Hilary Graham, a professor at the University of York in England.
On average, each person was exposed to an additional 1.4 days of heat waves between 2000 and 2017, compared with 1986 to 2005, according to the report.
Besides adults over 65, vulnerable people live in cities, and have heart disease, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease, the researchers noted.
People in Europe and the eastern Mediterranean are more vulnerable than those in Africa and Southeast Asia, probably because many older Europeans live in cities. Forty-two percent of Europeans and 43 percent of people in the eastern Mediterranean are older than 65 and vulnerable to heat exposure, compared with 38 percent in Africa and 34 percent in Southeast Asia, the study found.