High, extended temperatures can trigger negative cardiovascular events, a new study from researchers at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia shows.
Lead researcher Cunrui Huang examined healthy records for stroke and heart attack victims against weather records. Huang's team found during heat waves, defined as two or more consecutive days above 84.5° F, more people died as a result of stroke and heart attack.
On average, an increase in the loss of life from stroke or heart attack equaled 85 to 264 years during these periods.
"It is likely that climate change will produce more frequent, more intense, and longer lasting heat waves, and consequently put additional stress on vulnerable people such as the elderly and those with preexisting cardiovascular disease," according to the study.
"The associations between temperature and years of life lost due to cardiovascular disease are likely to be different for other geographic locations as a result of population acclimatization and sociodemographic differences," it added.
The study was published in the current edition of the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.
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