As temperatures reach record levels in many parts of the US this week, emergency rooms are bracing for a new normal: More patients are becoming gravely ill because their bodies can't take the heat.
Heat-related deaths in the US have been steadily increasing for years, a new study published in the medical journal JAMA shows a 117% increase in heat-related deaths from 1999 to 2023, with at least 21,518 people dying in that period.
Deaths from heat can be harder to identify. But awareness of global warming's threat to human health is increasing among some physicians, said Dr. Catharina Giudice.
The authors say heat-related deaths are probably undercounted. The way that death certificates are filled out... we're only probably scratching the surface of it, said study co-author Dr. Jeffrey Howard.
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