DAL MONDO SANITARIO E SCIENTIFICO – Heat-related mortality in Europe during the summer of 2022

All’esito di uno studio dell’Istituto di Barcellona per la salute globale (ISGlobal), in collaborazione con l’Istituto nazionale della salute francese (Inserm), l’Italia risulta il Paese più colpito con 295 decessi dovuti al caldo per milione di abitanti e al di sopra della media europea stimata in 114 decessi per milione.
Lo studio, Heat-related mortality in Europe during the summer of 2022, è stato pubblicato in data 10 luglio 2023 su Nature Medicine (www.nature.com).
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Heat-related mortality in Europe during the summer of 2022
Abstract

Over 70,000 excess deaths occurred in Europe during the summer of 2003. The resulting societal awareness led to the design and implementation of adaptation strategies to protect at-risk populations. We aimed to quantify heat-related mortality burden during the summer of 2022, the hottest season on record in Europe. We analyzed the Eurostat mortality database, which includes 45,184,044 counts of death from 823 contiguous regions in 35 European countries, representing the whole population of over 543 million people. We estimated 61,672 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 37,643–86,807) heat-related deaths in Europe between 30 May and 4 September 2022. Italy (18,010 deaths; 95% CI = 13,793–22,225), Spain (11,324; 95% CI = 7,908–14,880) and Germany (8,173; 95% CI = 5,374–11,018) had the highest summer heat-related mortality numbers, while Italy (295 deaths per million, 95% CI = 226–364), Greece (280, 95% CI = 201–355), Spain (237, 95% CI = 166–312) and Portugal (211, 95% CI = 162–255) had the highest heat-related mortality rates. Relative to population, we estimated 56% more heat-related deaths in women than men, with higher rates in men aged 0–64 (+41%) and 65–79 (+14%) years, and in women aged 80+ years (+27%). Our results call for a reevaluation and strengthening of existing heat surveillance platforms, prevention plans and long-term adaptation stratfegies.

Nature Medicine (2023)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02419-z