July heat wave quadruples excess mortality attributable to high temperatures in previous years

• Health This is how our body reacts to extreme temperatures

Last July was characterized by an

that affected Spain between the 9th and 18th. The consequences were especially serious, taking into account that experts usually consider the first heat wave of the year as the most dangerous, due to the lack of precaution and the lack of measures taken by the population at risk.

However, the month of July resulted in

more deaths than expected for the period, of which 2,176 could be attributed to high temperatures between the 1st and 30th of the month, according to the Daily Mortality Monitoring System. (MoMo) of the Carlos III Health Institute.

This means that there were more than twice as many deaths compared to the month of June and almost

than during the same dates in July last year.

High temperatures represent a great danger for the population in general, but especially for those people with previous cardiovascular and respiratory pathologies.

It is essential to take preventive measures to avoid sun exposure, reduce dehydration and

, especially those applied to reduce blood pressure or diuretic drugs.

One of the consequences of climate change has been the

.

Thus, the June wave was one of the most intense since 1975. The downward trend in mortality in recent years seems to have ceased and a drastic change is observed in the summer of 2022, as shown by the ISCIII MomoTemp reports.

While last year's July heat wave lasted three days and resulted in 74 deaths, this year's heat wave lasted more than a week,

attributable to high temperatures.

In the month of July of this year alone, deaths from heat exposure doubled for all of 2021. This represents an alarming setback with respect to the decrease in deaths that has been observed since 2017 and makes 2022

, the first for which there are records in the ISCIII Momo Panel.

During the heat wave of last July, 21 provinces became at high risk of probability of excess mortality attributable to high temperatures.

Among them,

, followed by Valladolid, Badajoz, Toledo, Seville and Salamanca.

The same trend can be observed according to the ISCIII Kairos Index in the first week of August, in which Madrid will remain remarkably at high risk of 100%, followed by Pontevedra, although with a considerably lower probability, ranging between 62% and 79%.

Madrid is the province that has registered the highest number of deaths attributable to high temperatures in the month of July with a significant difference compared to the rest of Spain.

The latest data recorded in the MoMo Panel up to July 30 records a

.

The capital is followed by Seville (129 deaths), Badajoz (106 deaths) and Barcelona (104), although with significantly lower excess mortality figures.

However, the provinces of Malaga, Cádiz, Tarragona, Las Palmas and the city of Melilla have not registered any deaths due to high temperatures, although this does not mean that these areas have not suffered from the heat wave.

The record of 0 deaths in these provinces may be due to the fact that their

trigger points for heat-attributable mortality have not been exceeded.

Thus we find that the temperature at which mortality is triggered in A Coruña is only 26ºC while in Seville it is 40ºC.

One of the deadliest summers

In the same way, it must be borne in mind that the Kairos Index is not guided by those places where the highest temperatures occur, but rather, as happens with heat waves, temperatures are taken into account, among other factors. normal in the territory and the trigger thresholds for heat mortality that are different in each of the provinces.

Spain is going through

and the worst since the Carlos III Institute has records.

Preventive measures against

will be essential to alleviate the effects of increasingly intense, longer and more frequent heat waves.

In the same way, it is essential to continue with the recommendations that are taken to protect the

: the elderly, infants, children under four years of age, pregnant women, and the population with previous cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

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