Study: Heat more dangerous for older adults than thought

A new study published in The Lancet Planetary Health indicates that older adults face dangerous heat stress at significantly lower global warming thresholds than previously estimated, with serious implications for public health and climate adaptation. The research, led by a team from Stanford University, suggests that at 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming above preindustrial levels, approximately 22 percent of the world's population aged 60 and over could be exposed to unsafe heat for at least one month each year. This finding challenges earlier projections that relied on heat tolerance data from younger, healthier individuals.

The study's authors argue that previous risk assessments have systematically underestimated the threat to aging populations. Older adults are physiologically more vulnerable to heat because they sweat less, have reduced circulation, and are more likely to have underlying health conditions such as cardiovascular or respiratory diseases. By incorporating age-specific heat tolerance data, the researchers found that the number of people expected to experience at least 180 hours of dangerous heat annually more than doubled compared to estimates using standard...