Health and Fitness ? 19 Have Died of Heat This Summer, City Says ...

The heat wave that gripped the city in late July is turning out to have been a fairly deadly one. Fourteen people are now certified to have died of weather-related hyperthermia, combined with other medical conditions, from July 22 to July 25, the city medical examiner?s office said Wednesday. Five more died of the heat in August, bringing the total for the summer to 19.

The dead included a 10-year-old girl in Brooklyn and a 97-year-old woman in the Bronx who both succumbed on July 23, when the temperature hit 100 degrees, as well as a 48-year-old Manhattan woman who died on July 25, when the heat wave finally broke after nine straight days with highs of 89 degrees or above.

The medical examiner?s office releases only the age, sex and borough for each death. While all the victims had other health problems, hyperthermia ? body temperature above 105 degrees ? due to ?exposure to high environmental heat? was listed as the primary cause of death for each, said Ellen Borakove, the spokeswoman for the medical examiner?s office.

The number of people who die from heat varies from year to year. Last summer, only 10 people died from the heat, but in 2008, 20 people died, and in 2006, the total was 27, Ms. Borakove said.

The deadliest summer in recent memory was 1999, when a blackout compounded the effects of the heat and more than 40 people died over the course of several heat waves, Ms. Borakove said.

Although the hottest day this summer was July 22 ? with a high temperature of 104 degrees and a low of a sweltering 84 ? more people died in subsequent days. Three people died on July 22; six on July 23 when the temperature hit 100; and five on July 24 when the high reached 91. On July 25, when the 48-year-old Manhattan woman died of heat, the high temperature was only 80.

Emergency room visits due to heat stress and heat stroke typically peak two or three days after a heat wave begins, said Dr. Susi Vassallo, an attending physician at Bellevue Hospital Center and an associate professor of emergency medicine at New York University School of Medicine.

?The third day is when people start coming in sick, because of the previous days? stress on their cardiovascular systems,? Dr. Vassallo said.

Dr. Vassallo said aggravating factors that frequently led to deaths from heat include congestive heart failure, diabetes, use of cocaine, and use of blood-pressure and antipsychotic medications that can hinder the body?s ability to dissipate heat.

Determining a cause of death can take weeks, so the official toll could continue to rise even if temperatures remain normal for the remainder of the summer, Ms. Borakove said. The mercury last hit 90 in New York on Aug. 8. It is not expected to top 85 degrees over the next 10 days.

Article source: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/summer-heat-caused-19-deaths-city-says/

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Source: http://medicaltips.biz/2011/09/01/19-have-died-of-heat-this-summer-city-says/

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