Elderly far more at risk from rising heat than thought: study
Researchers say 22% of people over 60 could face unsafe heat for at least a month a year at 1.5C of warming.
- On Tuesday, new research published in The Lancet Planetary Health indicated older adults face significantly higher heat risks at 1.5C of global warming than previously estimated by scientists.
- Stanford University researchers found earlier heat studies relied on young, healthy participants, failing to account for the reduced ability of adults over 60 to regulate core body temperature.
- According to the study's projections, 22 per cent of adults—about 290 million individuals—will swelter through unsafe heat for at least one month annually at 1.5C of warming.
- Uncompensable heat could increasingly drive internal displacement and transboundary climate migration, creating humanitarian challenges as older populations become more vulnerable in tropical regions and rapidly warming areas.
- Limiting further warming through greenhouse gas emission reductions remains fundamental to preventing these risks, as experts warn next year is expected to be even hotter than this summer.
47 Articles
47 Articles
A warming climate poses a much greater threat to older adults than previous computer models have shown. Recent research by US scientists shows that older adults experience greater heat stress with just a 1.5 degree temperature increase than younger adults with a four degree warming.
In 2025, global temperature reached 1.37 °C according to climate change indicators
‘Grim reality’: 1.5°C of warming will hit older adults way harder than previously thought
PARIS, Aug 19 — The threat that rising temperatures fuelled by climate change pose to the health of older people has been dramatically underestimated, according to a US modelling study published Tuesday.The research was released during a blistering northern hemisphere summer when extreme heat broke numerous records and contributed to the deaths of tens of thousands of people.For the study, a US team led by researchers at Stanford University soug…
In the coming decades, global warming will expose older people to an even more dangerous rise in temperatures than expected, according to a study published in Lancet Planetary Health on Tuesday. ...
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