Both cities also continue to grapple with persistently high rates of homelessness that far exceed the national average. Quantifying the impacts of extreme heat on PEH can inform new interventions and policies that reduce disease and mortality rates among this largely unsheltered population. “It was no surprise that our team found an association between heat and mortality for people experiencing homelessness, but the magnitude was staggering,” says Dr. Jonathan Jay, senior author of the study and corresponding associate professor in community health sciences at BUSPH. “Our estimates are 10 to 100 times greater than the known associations between daily heat and mortality for the general population of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and this finding highlights the moral imperative for our systems to do more.” The study says the new findings also demonstrate that heat exposure is an important factor amplifying large health inequalities for PEH and highlight the need to focus climate and health research on the most marginalized populations. Deaths among homeless people in two large US West Coast cities were found to be 10 to 100 times greater than heat-attributable deaths in the general population. This is what emerges from a study by the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Due to the nature of their housing situation, homeless people (PEH) are considered one of the most vulnerable populations regarding health effects of extreme weather events. The study looked at death rates in two U.S. counties with warm climates (Clark County in Nevada, which includes Las Vegas, and Los Angeles County in California) and found that daily heat played a role significant in mortality among PEH. This association was especially evident in Clark County, where nearly 50 percent of deaths during the study period were attributable to higher daily temperatures. Although Los Angeles County observed a lower percentage of deaths attributable to heat, at 5.2 percent, daily heat appeared to contribute to many more deaths than daily cold in both counties. The study is the first to examine heat-attributable mortality among PEH, providing valuable public health insights as the West Coast recovers from an unprecedented heat wave that prompted numerous heat advisories in parts of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, where temperatures have soared to 111 degrees and 104 degrees, respectively, in recent days. (AGI)
