Deadly heat wave –
Each year, heat kills hundreds of people in Switzerland
Tragic cases like that of a thirsty Geneva in his apartment reveal the extent of an underestimated phenomenon. The cantons multiply the prevention measures in the face of this threat which strikes at 24 degrees.
A heat wave is currently falling on Switzerland.
Franziska Rothenbühler
- More than 540 people died, in 2023, in Switzerland, from heat.
- The elderly living alone and without social contacts are particularly vulnerable.
- Heat waves occurring early in the year are particularly victims.
It was by feeling a hard -haired smell in the stairwell that the neighbors gave the alert. When the authorities were able to enter the Geneva apartment, they discovered the body of an 86 -year -old woman. The autopsy revealed that she had died of dehydration.
She lived in a small apartment in a subdivision of the 70s. When we found her, her refrigerator was almost empty. The deceased had a good family, but she did not live in town.
Which promotes deaths in Switzerland
Peter Burri Fullath of For age tells this tragic story. This death marked him because local authorities implemented shortly after an early alert system for heat wave periods. But above all because this case perfectly illustrates heat -related deaths: “The victims are mainly very old people who live in an urban environment and who generally have little or more social contacts.” Result: no one thinks of reminding them to hydrate and no one does the shopping in their place.
In addition to the Geneva, more than 540 other people died in 2023 because of the hot weather in Switzerland. This is revealed by the calculations of the Confederation. For two years, the federal offices of the environment and public health systematically have been analyzing the impact of heat on mortality in Switzerland. The Confederation will publish the figures for the year 2024 in the coming weeks.
Current knowledge reveals that the most affected people are over 75, with a clear female predominance.
The number of victims in Switzerland is underestimated
The Confederation justifies its vigilance by the expected increase in temperatures in the coming years. The figures were already exceptionally raised during the 2022 heat wave. A study by the University of Bern revealed that, that summer, heat-related deaths were three times more numerous than the average observed between 2009 and 2017. This research is also one of the first in the world to quantify the impact of global warming on these deaths, which it estimates at 60% of the total.
When questioned, the main author Ana Vicedo-Cabrera describes the warmth of “silent killer”. “The deaths officially attributed to heat, that is to say thermal shocks or heat strokes, largely underestimate the real effects,” she explains. When a person dies for example from a stroke, this death is generally recorded as such in the registers. The underlying cause is not mentioned.
The figures of the Confederation concerning the deaths due to heat therefore constitute an estimate. From the measured temperatures and the effective number of deaths, it is possible to calculate how many deaths can be attributed to heat.
Ana Vicedo-Cabrera underlines that there are no biological markers to establish that a person is dead because of heat, unlike cases of poisoning. “People die from a heart attack or breathing difficulties, which may have been caused by heat exposure.”
In the event of high temperatures, the body’s cooling systems no longer work properly, especially in the elderly. If they don’t drink enough, they may dehydrate. People with heart or respiratory diseases are also particularly vulnerable.
Deaths from 24 degrees
Peter Burri Follath talks about an underestimated problem. In the elderly, feelings of hunger and thirst is often no longer so pronounced. Many also suffer from cardiovascular disease. “If the apartment heats up for several days, it gives an extremely dangerous mixture.”
Swiss researchers observed an increase in mortality as soon as the interior temperature exceeds 21 degrees at night and 24 degrees during the day. The organization of young people tolerates these high temperatures better than that of the elderly.
According to the figures of the Confederation, it is rare that young people die because of the heat. But it still happens. In May, the death of a 24-year-old American football player following a heat stroke after a half-marathon in Texas moved the world of sport.
Last week, Italian MATTATI Debertolis collapsed during the World Games in China. The orientation race took place in extreme conditions, with strong humidity and temperatures reaching 42 degrees. The 29 -year -old, the Italian athlete died in circumstances that have not yet been specified.
Death of a fifties
Roberta Petrino heads the emergency department of the Cantonal Hospital in Ticino and describes the case of a 50 -year -old man admitted during this year’s first heat wave in June. His relatives would have found the man, who suffered from a psychic illness, unconscious in his bed, in his highly overheated room. “He arrived with us in a very critical state, with a body temperature of 41 degrees.”
Doctors failed to lower their temperature. He was therefore transferred to intensive care, where his kidneys stopped working and where he started to have heart and respiratory problems. The man died after four days. Doctors diagnosed a heat stroke that caused an irreversible multi-organic failure.
Particularly murderous precocious heat waves
An international research team, including Ana Vicedo-Cabrera from the University of Bern, looked at this year’s early heat wave, occurred between the end of June and early July. The researchers analyzed the effects of heat in twelve European cities. Their study reveals that the heat waves occurring early in the year are particularly deadly, the population not yet had time to acclimatize to the high temperatures. Climate change may intensify these early scorching episodes.
The monitoring of Confederation reveals, however, that the human being manages, to a certain extent, to adapt to higher temperatures. During the summer days when the thermometer remains under 25 degrees, there are fewer deaths linked to heat today than in the past. These results, as well as other observations, suggest according to the authors that a form of addiction have developed within the population, whether physiological or results from preventive heat measures.
Meanwhile, many municipalities and cantons have developed aid devices for the elderly during the heat wave episodes.
A nurse refreshes a woman using a spray of water.
AFP
“In Ticino, where the problem can be particularly serious, in certain municipalities, the police are going to the elderly,” confirms Peter Burri Follath.
Lausanne Also know such home visits. Police are in, give the elderly drinking and read the weather report. He should soon be a little cooler. Hopefully.
Translated from German by Olivia Beuhat.
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