PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “heatwave”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

Too hot for comfort: the heatwaves in Greece in 1987 and 1988.

The heatwaves that affected Greece in July 1987 and July 1988 are considered in terms of (i) the relative strain index. For different types of activity, and (ii) the discomfort index. Hourly values of air temperature and humidity for Thessaloniki and Athens were used as the data base. Both indices show that in terms of physiological strain and general discomfort, Thessaloniki suffered a little more and a little longer than Athens. We conclude that the relative strain index is probably a useful tool in studies of the adverse effects of humid heatwaves on different sections of a population.

Greece↗
PubMed1977

Effects of a heatwave on mortality-rates in elderly inpatients.

The relation between the number of in-patient deaths occurring in a department of geriatric medicine and external air temperatures recorded during the heatwave of 1976 in the U.K. was investigated. There was a close correlation between the mortality-rate and the weekly average of peak daily temperatures. There was less of an increase in mortality among the elderly patients in the better insulated buildings. The total number of deaths among elderly patients increased threefold during the hottest period of the heat-wave. These results suggest that measures may need to be taken in the elderly to combat the harmful effects of heatwaves.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1985

Heatwave morbidity and mortality in old age.

Mortality in the elderly is affected by external temperature at both extremes. Admissions to a geriatric unit during the hot summer of 1983 were compared with those in the same period in 1982, a typically British summer. There were 382 admissions and 69 deaths in 1982, and 468 admissions and 90 deaths during the same 22-week period in 1983. The principal difference in the cause of admissions was in the group cerebrovascular accidents/transient ischaemic attacks/subarachnoid haemorrhages which rose from 10% in 1982 to 15% in 1983. There was also a small increase in the proportion of respiratory-tract infections in 1983.

Aged↗
PubMed2026

Extreme Temperature and Incident Diabetes Risk Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in China: A National Longitudinal Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The metabolic consequences of extreme temperature exposure in nondiabetic populations remain poorly understood. This study aimed to examine associations between heatwave and coldwave exposure and incident diabetes mellitus (DM) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) in middle-aged and older Chinese adults. METHODS: A total of 1803 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study participants aged &#x2265;45 years with normoglycemia at baseline were followed from Wave 1 (2011) to Wave 3 (2015). Eighteen extreme-temperature indicators were derived from city-level fifth-generation European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts atmospheric reanalysis data. Outcomes were classified according to American Diabetes Association criteria. Generalized linear mixed-effects models (GLMMs) were pooled across five imputed datasets, with Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons (&#x3b1; = 0.0028) and sensitivity analysis adjusting for individual follow-up duration. RESULTS: All nine heatwave indicators showed odds ratios (ORs) < 1.0 for DM and IGT. HT9 (&#x2265;97.5th percentile, &#x2265;4 consecutive days) was the sole Bonferroni-significant result: OR = 0.845 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.802-0.890). Coldwave indicators showed no consistent associations. Age significantly modified the HT9 effect (P-interaction = 0.004): adults aged 65-84 showed a stronger inverse association (OR = 0.616) than those aged < 65 (OR = 0.921). CONCLUSION: Prolonged heatwave exposure was consistently associated with reduced diabetes risk, with pronounced age heterogeneity. Replication in larger prospective studies is warranted.

Humans↗
PubMed2026

Extreme climatic events drive consistent and predictable shifts in soil antibiotic resistance genes.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing One Health challenge, and as climate warming intensifies extreme events, it remains unclear how these disturbances affect soil antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Here we analyzed the data from a controlled experiment using soils from 30 grassland sites across ten European countries, which simulated drought, flooding, freeze-thaw, and heatwaves to explore ARG dynamics. Overall, ARGs exhibited relatively small but highly consistent shifts across treatments. Heatwaves caused the strongest reductions in ARG abundance and in their linkages with mobile genetic elements (MGEs), a pattern that may reflect a hypothesized metabolic-genetic trade-off, in which microbial investment may shift from core metabolism toward stress signaling and structural maintenance. ARG dynamics during and after disturbance were governed by distinct soil physicochemical properties, with temperature and nutrient status determining acute responses, whereas soil moisture and seasonal variability in temperature and precipitation shaped longer-term legacy effects. Cross-validated random-forest models showed positive predictive performance for Bray-Curtis-based compositional responses within the environmental range represented by the 30 grassland sites. Our findings enhance the understanding of how soil ARGs respond to extreme climatic events and provide a step toward predicting extreme-event impacts on soil resistomes with relevance to One Health.

Soil Microbiology↗
PubMed1991

Maternal hyperthermia during pregnancy and cardiovascular malformations in the offspring.

During pregnancy, a number of factors predisposing to hyperthermia, such as sleeping in a water bed, sauna bathing, heatwave, high workplace temperature, and fever, are believed capable of harming the foetus. This study aimed to clarify possible associations of maternal workplace temperature, season of birth, sauna bathing, upper respiratory infection, and fever, with cardiovascular malformations in the offspring. The material was composed of all 573 cardiac malformations registered in Finland in 1982-84, and 1055 randomly chosen healthy controls. The mothers were interviewed at maternity welfare centers about three months after delivery. Fever (greater than or equal to 38 degrees C) during early pregnancy was more prevalent among case mothers (10%) than controls (6%) (p less than 0.01), largely manifest as increased risks of atrial septal defect and hypoplastic left heart. Upper respiratory infection was also more common among case mothers (26%) than controls (18%) (p less than 0.001). By contrast, maternal workplace temperature, sauna bathing, and temperature of the environment (seasonal variation) were not associated with risk of cardiac malformation in the offspring. The use of acetylsalicylic acid-containing medication for reducing fever was equally common (7%) among case and control mothers.

Aspirin↗
PubMed2026

From population to individual: advocating personalised digital tools for heat-health early warning in a changing climate.

Escalating heat extremes under climate change are imposing substantial health burdens, with 2023 and 2024 consecutively breaking global temperature records. Mounting evidence suggests that heatwaves elevate the risks of hospitalisation and mortality across multiple disease categories, including ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and acute kidney injury. Nonetheless, most existing heat-health warning systems remain primarily reliant on population-level predictions, and considering individual differences and disease-specific considerations when defining warning levels would benefit the effectiveness of early prevention for high-risk groups. In this Viewpoint, which is based on the framework of precision public health-delivering the right intervention to the right population at the right time-we propose a framework for personalised digital heat-health early warning tools comprising three dimensions: individualised, risk-stratified prediction models that generate tiered early warnings; personalised health prompts coupled with theory-informed behavioural interventions; and adaptive, equity-oriented alert delivery mechanisms tailored to diverse populations. Such tools have the potential to bridge precision disease prevention and climate adaptation, thereby helping to mitigate heat exposure risks and disease burdens, particularly among high-risk populations. Future implementation research will be essential to address substantial challenges related to feasibility, validation, and equity.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2026

Virulent Parasites Emerge in Hosts With Rising Temperatures.

Climate change is increasing the risk of emerging parasites. However, whether more virulent variants will spread during climate-driven outbreaks remains unclear. Here, we aimed to explore the short-term trajectory of parasite evolution-at the phenotypic and genomic scales-across environmentally relevant temperatures in a thermally mismatched host-parasite interaction. We experimentally evolved a wild parasitic bacterium (Leucobacter musarum), across the thermal range (20&#xb0;C-30&#xb0;C) and extremes (35&#xb0;C) of Cabo Verde-the site of field collection-in a Caenorhabditis elegans host strain. Starting from a single bacterial isolate, we then tracked phenotypic and de novo genomic changes that arose across replicate populations following ten passages of experimental evolution. We found that at 25&#xb0;C, warm for the host but an average temperature for the parasite, host-mediated selection favoured higher virulence and genomic diversification by the end of the experiment. At hot temperatures, towards the limit of host survival, virulence was maintained across all parasite populations. Parasites evolved at hot temperatures also displayed a latent virulence boost, deadlier once hosts experienced a heatwave. Patterns of molecular evolution were constrained to parallel changes in fewer loci at extreme temperatures. Our findings suggest that shifting environmental temperatures will leave phenotypic and genomic signatures on evolving parasites.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

The danger of "yellow dyes" (tartrazine) to allergic subjects.

Oral administration of 50 mg tartrazine to 122 patients with a variety of allergic disorders caused the following reactions: general weakness, heatwaves, palpitations, blurred vision, rhinorrhoea, feeling of suffocation, pruritus and urticaria. There was activation of the fibrinolytic pathway as shown by reduction of plasminogen with high pre-kallikrein and low kallikrein values. Reduction in complement activity (CH50) was seen in three out of sixteen reactions.

Azo Compounds↗
PubMed1992

Salmonella outbreak among railway and airline passengers.

A widespread outbreak by Salmonella infantis, infecting a total of 226 people, occurred in Finland at the beginning of August 1986. Of those infected, 107 were railway passengers, 91 were airline passengers and 28 were employed in a food processing establishment. The outbreak among the railway passengers was caused by egg sandwiches, the airline passengers were infected by a meal served on board and the catering employees by the breakfast served in the establishment. The outbreak was caused by food prepared in the establishment's kitchen. The employees' breakfasts had probably been contaminated by an employee who was a symptom-free Salmonella infantis carrier, and a number of the employees subsequently became infected, leading to widespread contamination of the food prepared in the establishment. The spread of the outbreak was further influenced by a heatwave at the time and by shortcomings in the cold storage facilities. The kitchen's hygiene supervision and the quality control of its output were reorganized after the outbreak.

Aircraft↗