Heat exhaustion diagnoses nearly 53% higher in 2016 vs. 2021

Among privately insured individuals in the United States, the percentage of those diagnosed with heat exhaustion was 52.5% higher in June 2021 compared with June 2016, a new report found.

In a press release, Robin Gelburd, JD, president of the nonprofit health care data solutions organization FAIR Health, said the findings “have implications for all health care stakeholders concerned with heat-related illnesses, including patients, providers, payors and policy makers.”

Previous research has demonstrated the adverse health effects associated with rising global temperatures, including a 53.7% increase in heat-related mortality among adults aged 65 years and older from 2001 to 2018, according to the report. However, national data on illnesses in the U.S. “have been lacking.”

To analyze these trends, researchers at FAIR Health used data from more than 39 billion private health care claim records to examine heat-related illnesses, including heat exhaustion, heat stress and heat stroke. The data were collected from May to September of 2016 to 2021.

The researchers found that the percentage of patients diagnosed with any of the three heat-related illnesses was greater during the months of 2021 when compared with the corresponding months in 2016.

The largest increase in diagnoses for heat stroke was 40.1% in September 2016 vs. September 2021. For heat stress, the largest increase was 37.8% in May 2016 vs. May 2021.

For both heat stroke and heat exhaustion, 64% of diagnoses were in men. There was a less notable gender gap for heat stress, with 48% of cases being in women, according to the report. However, men aged 36 years and older were more likely to be diagnosed than women in the same age group.

The researchers also found that older individuals were at a higher risk for heat stroke, with 2.61% of patients aged 65 years and older being diagnosed compared with 1.71% among those aged 55 to 64 years and 0.57% among those aged 18 years and younger. Similarly, 1.93% of patients aged 65 years and older were diagnosed with heat stress vs. 0.85% of those aged 55 to 64 years.

In a separate study recently published in JAMA, researchers reported increases in heat exposure-related ED visits. During a heat wave in Portland, Oregon in June 2021, there was a 16.8% increase in ED incidence rates, while Seattle saw a 9.3% rise during a heat wave in the area.

Both studies align with historical average temperatures that have occurred over the past several years. NASA reported that Earth’s average global temperature in 2020 tied 2016 as the warmest year on record.

Meanwhile, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and six international datasets, all seven of the warmest years have been since 2015 — a trend that the WMO expects to continue.

Gelburd said FAIR Health hopes that findings from its new report will be “starting points for further research on heat-related illnesses.”

References:

• Heat-related illness. https://s3.amazonaws.com/media2.fairhealth.org/brief/asset/Heat-Related%20Illness%20-%20A%20FAIR%20Health%20Brief.pdf. Published Dec. 13, 2022. Accessed Dec. 20, 2022.
• Nori-Sarma A, et al. JAMA. 2022;doi:10.1001/jama.2022.20665.
• Share of patients with heat exhaustion increased 53 percent when comparing June 2016 to June 2021, according to new FAIR Health study. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/share-of-patients-with-heat-exhaustion-increased-53-percent-when-comparing-june-2016-to-june-2021-according-to-new-fair-health-study-301701584.html. Published Dec. 13, 2022. Accessed Dec. 20, 2022.
• 2021 joins top 7 warmest years on record: WMO. https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/01/1110022. Published Jan. 19, 2022. Accessed Dec. 20, 2022.
• 2020 tied for warmest year on record, NASA analysis shows. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/2020-tied-for-warmest-year-on-record-nasa-analysis-shows. Published Jan. 14, 2021. Accessed Dec. 20, 2022.