Heat risk to elderly underestimated study

A U.S. modeling study led by Stanford University, published in The Lancet, found that the threat of rising temperatures to the health of older people has been dramatically underestimated. Previous research used wet-bulb temperature measurements based on young, healthy adults, but the new study used data from experiments on people over 60. The researchers modeled heat exposure for three age ranges by 2100 under different warming scenarios. They estimated that at 1.5°C of warming, 22% of people over 60 will face unsafe heat for at least a month each year, and each additional degree of warming exposes a billion more people to an extra month of intolerable heat. At 3°C warming, elderly in South Asia and the Gulf could face dangerous heat day and night for three months a year. The most threatened countries include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Nigeria. The study warns of increased climate migration and calls for emissions cuts and better cooling access.