A surprising study of temperature-related deaths in Mexico upends conventional thinking about what age group is hit hardest by heat. Researchers found at higher temperatures and humidity, the heat kills far more young people under 35 than those older than 50. For decades, health and weather experts have warned that the elderly and the youngest children were most vulnerable in heat waves, the AP reports. But this study looking at all deaths in Mexico from 1998 to 2019 shows that when the combination of humidity and temperature reaches uncomfortable levels—such as the mid- to upper 80s Fahrenheit and 50% relative humidity—the assumption doesn't hold up.
The study in Friday's journal Science Advances shows an especially surprising spike of heat-related deaths among people between 18 and 35. That age group alone had nine times as many temperature-related deaths as those older than 50. "It's a surprise. These are physiologically the most robust people in the population," said study co-author Jeffrey Shrader, a climate economist at Columbia University, per Phys.org. "I would love to know why this is so." Demographics alone don't explain why more young adult Mexicans are dying in high heat than their elders. Two theories: Outdoor workers who can't escape the heat, and young people who don't know their limits.
The trend is likely to widen as the world warms from human-caused climate change, according to computer simulations run by the study team. "We found that younger people are especially vulnerable to humid heat," Shrader said. "As the climate warms, we're really going to be shifting the burden of temperature-related mortality towards younger individuals and away from older individuals who tend to be more vulnerable to cold temperatures." Data from cold weather shows more than 300 deaths of Mexican residents 50 and older for every young person dying from cold temperatures, according to the study.
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