Cold-related deaths in the United States have increased over the past two decades

Cold-related deaths in USA have increased annually by 9% during the last two decades, according to a report published by the specialized scientific website sciencedirect.com.

The text, “Social vulnerability and mortality attributable to non-optimal temperatures in the United States: an ecological analysis at the county level,” maintains among its conclusions that the cold represented the majority of deaths linked to temperature in that country.

After an analysis of 1,514 counties, which is equivalent to 95% of the adult population of that country, the research team found that social vulnerability intensified both mortality associated with cold and heat.

The report points out that climate change represents one of the greatest challenges for public health of the 21st century and recalls that temperature extremes related to climate crisis have been repeatedly linked to an increase in non-accidental deaths in the short term.

While the world overall is getting warmer, climate change has also led to extreme winter events in the United States, with southern regions experiencing unusual cold snaps, the report states.

1/19 | Winter storm covers Niagara Falls with ice and snow. It could be days before power is restored in the southern United States, where thermometers are expected to show negative temperatures on Friday in areas not accustomed or equipped to withstand such cold. – EFE Agency

In this sense, it stands out that cold-related deaths in that country have increased by 9% annually over the last two decades.

Nationally, the report estimates that 72,361 deaths were attributed to cold and 6,129 deaths attributed to heat annually, equivalent to 40.1 and 3.4 per 100,000 people per year.

According to this, although the extreme cold was responsible for the majority of temperature-related deaths in the United States, social vulnerability substantially modified that risk. In this way, the counties with the greatest social vulnerability had a 40% higher mortality rate, both due to heat and cold, compared to the least vulnerable.