Heat waves increase daily hospitalizations in Portugal

Heat waves increased daily hospital admissions by 18.9% between 2000 and 2018, mostly due to burns (34%) and multiple trauma (27%), a study from the National School of Public Health (ENSP) shows.

The groundbreaking study finds a “statistically significant overall increase in daily hospital admissions on heatwave days”, with children and young people under 18 years of age (21.7%) and older adults (17.2%) most affected. .

According to researchers from the ENSP at the NOVA University of Lisbon and the Atlantic Center CoLAB+, heat waves led to an increase in hospitalizations (from 7% to 34.3%) for 25 leading causes of illness.

On average, on hot days, hospitalizations increased by 34% for burns, by 27% for multiple injuries, by 25% for infectious diseases, by 25% for endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases, by 23% for mental illness, by 22%. for diseases of the respiratory system and 16% for diseases of the circulatory system, among others,” emphasizes a study published in the scientific journal Lancet Planetary Health.

“The study is very comprehensive in the sense that it covers more than 12 million hospitalizations that occurred on the Portuguese mainland over almost two decades (from 2000 to 2018),” study first author Ana Margarida Alho, Research Fellow at ENSP.

Hospitalization data overlaps with daily air temperature data for 278 municipalities in mainland Portugal, the researcher explained.

The results show that “more than 70% of the territory has seen an increase in hospitalizations during heat waves”, with the most significant increase seen in northern regions, including the metropolitan areas of Porto and Lisbon, where the group is younger (under 18 years of age). years) are especially affected in the interior and southern regions.

“Such a sharp increase in hospitalizations could jeopardize the quality of care provided to patients, placing even greater pressure on health care workers, especially at this time of summer when crews are already on reduced work schedules compared to the holiday period,” he warned.

One of the “big challenges” that prompted the study was to quantify the morbidity (illness) associated with the phenomenon, since there is already a lot of data on mortality, he said, arguing that “morbidity is the premature phase of mortality at which action must be taken.” in advance”.

Ana Margarida Alho said that this research will be continued with the aim of identifying in each group of diseases the reasons that lead a patient to hospitalization, citing mental illness and trauma as examples.

“It is documented that people tend to sleep less well during hot flashes, and this often leads to decompensation of a disease that may already exist, and sometimes there are also effects of medications that can alter the body’s homeostasis, and this should be obvious. is being specified,” he explained.

Regarding multiple injuries, he said people tend to consume more alcohol on hot days and often tend to act more relaxed, more impulsive, or engage in more extreme sports, drive on roads they don’t know as well, and all that. this could trigger an increase in hospitalizations.

The researcher noted that until recently, the occurrence of heat waves was considered an unusual phenomenon, but “extreme weather events such as heat waves are becoming a common part of summer around the world, making adapting heat safety measures a priority.”

“2023 was the hottest year on record and extreme weather events, including heat waves, pose one of the biggest challenges at present,” with heat waves expected to last in excess of 60 days in many areas of southern Europe.

For Ana Margarida Alho, it is important to promote early access to health care, considering it essential to increase public awareness of the risks and behaviors to be adopted during heat waves, thereby contributing to the prevention of heat-related illnesses and subsequent mortality.

The researchers believe these results should be used to help healthcare in Portugal adapt to the increasingly frequent, intense and long-lasting phenomenon.