Extreme heat and cold are leading to increasing death rates from cardiovascular disease among the elderly, with high temperatures threatening elderly men in the Taipei area, while low temperatures pose a risk for the elderly in the south, a scientific study showed.
In a paper published in the Taiwan Journal of Public Health, Chung Yuan Christian University’s Department of Bioenvironmental Engineering assistant professor Wang Yu-chun (王玉純) and National Taiwan University’s College of Public Health professor Lin Yu-kai (林于凱) showed how extreme weather affected the death rate among the elderly, comparing weather data from 1994 and 2008 with the causes of death among the elderly during the same period.
Wang said when average daily temperature was between 26°C and 28°C, the death rate among the elderly was at its lowest.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
Once average daily temperatures in the Taipei area hit 30°C, the incidence of death within seven days from cardiovascular disease increased 5 percent among the elderly for every degree the temperature rose.
Wang added that the impact of extreme weather conditions on the elderly might not be immediate and could be delayed by a few days.
The research also showed that the effects of high temperatures were less noticeable among the elderly in Greater Taichung and Greater Kaohsiung.
However, cold fronts and low temperatures led to an increase in deaths among the elderly in Greater Kaohsiung.
Once the daily average temperatures dropped to 18°C in Greater Kaohsiung, the risk of death from cardiovascular disease in the following 21 days rose 9 percent for every 1°C drop in temperature, the research showed. For Taipei and Greater Taichung, the incidence of death rose 4 percent for every degree the temperature dropped below 18°C over a three-week period.
Chang Kuo-sung (張國頌), a visiting staff doctor in Mackay Memorial Hospital’s emergency room, said people’s ability to adapt to temperature fluctuations decreases with age, and that by the time the elderly realize it is too hot or too cold, it could already be too late.
Houses should always have a thermometer and the elderly should turn on their air conditioner when temperatures reach 30°C, Wang said, adding that if a house did not have an air conditioner, then it was important to have good air circulation and individuals should keep themselves well hydrated.
The elderly are easily dehydrated and can suffer heat stroke in hot weather, causing shock or arrhythmia, Chang said, adding that low temperatures can affect blood pressure and also cause arrhythmia, myocardial infarction or a stroke.
Wang called on government agencies to establish a warning system for heat waves and cold fronts, as well as taking measures to lower the risk of death for old patients and old people living alone.
Central Weather Bureau Director-General Shin Tzay-chyn (辛在勤) said the problem with establishing a heat wave and cold front warning system did not stem from lack of capacity at the bureau, but rather from an insufficient amount of medical data.
The bureau has asked the Department of Health to look into the matter to understand the relationship between high heat, sickness and death, Shin said, adding that the department said there was insufficient evidence supporting a direct correlation between the two.
Shin said the health department’s position undermined the calls for the establishment of a heat wave and cold front alarm system.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read: