United States: Climate Change imitating the normal cardiovascular systems of persons globally, according to a new meta-analysis.
For their part, extreme heat, storms and all forms of severe weather are dangerous signals for the heart and lead to the death of one or several people who die from cardiovascular diseases, as researchers from the JAMA Cardiology journal reported on June 12.
More about the case
According to Dhruv Kazi, the researcher and an associate director of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Center for Outcomes Research in Boston, “Climate change is already adversely affecting cardiovascular health in the U.S. and worldwide,” as US News reported.
“Urgent action is needed to mitigate climate change-related cardiovascular risk, particularly among our most vulnerable populations,” Kazi added.
What more have the researchers revealed?
Evidently, with the natural increase in the Earth’s temperature, different scientists have agreed that the temperature has risen by about two of a degree Fahrenheit within one hundred years.
This has led to climate change and variability which brings changes in weather patterns even after several years although this is currently experiencing its following effects such as the rising sea levels and disrupted ecosystems.
In turn, the authors of the study pointed out that the average temperature of the past ten years has been lower than in the hottest decade in the past decade.
How was the study conducted?
To write this review, the researchers systematically reviewed the published literature where they focused on about 500 papers conducted from the year 1970 to 2023.
All the studies examined links between cardiovascular health and meteorological factors such as temperatures, smoke from wildfires, which is a source of ozone, and salts that flood areas in the course of hurricanes, dust, and droughts.
They also identified that a negative impact of global warming is that poor elderly and minorities have higher rates of heart disease disproportionately.
They also discovered that the danger to heart health from extreme climate catastrophe does not only start immediately at the time of the peril but rather may take months or years afterward.
For instance, while analyzing the effects of Hurricane Sandy, which struck New York City and caused nearly USD 20 billion in damages in 2012, the researchers observed the mortality from heart disease.
Also, some events like a wildfire can lead to the dangers posed to people even several hundreds of miles from the scene of the event.
Hazardous substance in wildfire smoke, such as carbon and particulate matter, raises the rate of acute myocardial infarction and other heart issues, as per researchers.
According to Kazi, “Given how many Americans are now being exposed to wildfire smoke every year — as was the case of wildfire smoke from Canadian fires affecting New York City last summer — further studies to accurately quantify this risk are urgently needed,” as US News reported.
He added, “We know that these pathways have the potential to undermine the cardiovascular health of the population, but the magnitude of the impact, and which populations will be particularly susceptible, need further study.”
Moreover, Dr. Mary Rice, who is the senior researcher and a pulmonary and critical care physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said, “Though data on outcomes in low-income countries are lacking, our study shows that several of the environmental stressors that are already increasing in frequency and intensity with climate change are linked with increased cardiovascular risk.”