Heat-related mortality in Europe during the summer of 2022

Over 70,000 excess deaths occurred in Europe during the summer of 2003.The resulting societal awareness led to the design and implementation of adaptation strategies to protect at-risk populations.We aimed to quantify heat-related mortality burden during the summer of 2022, the hottest season on record in Europe.We analyzed the Eurostat mortality database, which includes 45,184,044 counts of death from 823 contiguous regions in 35 European countries, representing the whole population of over 543 million people.We estimated 61,672 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 37,643-86,807) heat-related deaths in Europe between 30 May and 4 September 2022.Italy (18,010 deaths; 95% CI = 13,793-22,225), Spain (11,324; 95% CI = 7,908-14,880) and Germany (8,173; 95% CI = 5,374-11,018) had the highest summer heat-related mortality numbers, while Italy (295 deaths per million, 95% CI = 226-364), Greece (280, 95% CI = 201-355), Spain (237, 95% CI = 166-312) and Portugal (211, 95% CI = 162-255) had the highest heat-related mortality rates.Relative to population, we estimated 56% more heat-related deaths in women than men, with higher rates in men aged 0-64 (+41%) and 65-79 (+14%) years, and in women aged 80+ years (+27%).Our results call for a reevaluation and strengthening of existing heat surveillance platforms, prevention plans and long-term adaptation strategies.Anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases have led to a detectable rise in global temperatures, which is associated with an increase in the frequency and intensity of heat waves and hot summers. In this context, Europe emerges as a major climatic hotspot, given that warming since preindustrial levels is almost 1 °C higher than the corresponding global increase, and higher than in any other continent. Moreover, climate change projections for the continent indicate that temperatures, and their health impacts, will rise at an accelerated rate unless strong mitigation and adaptation actions are put in place.

Joan Ballester, Marcos Quijal-Zamorano, Raúl Fernando Méndez Turrubiates, Ferran Pegenaut, François R Herrmann, Jean Marie Robine, Xavier Basagaña, Cathryn Tonne, Josep M Antó, Hicham Achebak