Extremely hot days could trigger a spike in Alzheimer's-related hospitalisations

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-02-04 03:00

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People with Alzheimer's and related dementias are at a slightly higher risk of hospitalisation on days of extreme heat, according to US researchers who say the warming climate could lead to increased hospitalisations in this group. The team compared insurance claims for dementia-related hospitalisations with weather data from the patients' neighbourhoods. They say one day of extreme heat was linked to about 0.8 additional hospitalisations per 1,000 people, and a four-day heatwave was linked to 1.7 additional hospitalisations per 1,000. In the US where about 6.7 million people currently have Alzheimer's or a related dementia, the researchers say this small increase could lead to at least 5,360 additional hospitalisations around the country after one day of extreme heat. In an accompanying viewpoint article, international researchers say this is one of many increased risks older people face as the climate changes.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Internal Medicine

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, USA

Funder: This work was funded by grants from the NIH/National Institute on Aging (grant R01AG066793 to Dr Zanobetti, grant RF1AG080948 to Drs Bell and Gill, grant P30AG021342 to Dr Gill, grant RF1AG074372, and grant R01AG071024) and the NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (grant R01ES034373 to Drs Zanobetti and Braun and grant P30ES000002).

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