New Delhi:While the most extreme heat waves have the greatest short-term impact on mortality, it is the mildest ones that kill most over time because they are more common, according to a study conducted in India. As heat waves are projected to become more common as the Earth's climate warms, the health risks of temporarily elevated temperatures must be investigated further, the researchers said.
"We wanted to find out how much the risk of death increases during heat waves," said study first author Jeroen de Bont from Karolinska Institute in Sweden. The study, published in the journal Environment International, examined excess mortality in ten cities in different parts of India with different climate zones between 2008 and 2019.
By selecting the days that were hotter than 95, 97 or 99 per cent of all days in the different regions, the researchers were able to create different definitions of heat waves and examine the health risks associated with them. The hottest and longest heat waves, those that were hotter than 99 per cent of days and lasted at least five days, increased mortality the mostby over 33 per cent, they said.