United States: New study that shows hospital visits linked to the effects of climate change such as heat illnesses in kids have increased by 170 percent for two children emergency centers in Texas within the years 2012 and 2023.
The study’s author, Dr. Taylor Merritt, a resident pediatrician at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, is to reveal the results at the AAP annual meeting in Orlando, Florida on Sunday.
Although the work is not yet in a peer-reviewed journal, therefore is still classified as preliminary, the trends are likely similar in other parts of United States where temperatures are on the rise, said study co-author Dr. Andrew Yu, a pediatrician and researcher at UT Southwestern.
As reported by HealthDay, children admitted in these two large hospitals in Dallas for heat-related illnesses included heat cramps and heat stroke, as well as life-threatening ones such as rhabdomyolosis, says the study.
“As heat waves increase in the context of climate change, their impact on children is getting worse and more frequent: more heat strokes are observed,” Merritt said in the AAP news release.
As part of the study, the researchers focused on 542 cases of heat-related visits to ER. Specific to heat, 78% (418) patients were diagnosed, and 25% (131) were diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis. Otherwise referred to as “rhabdo,” it is a rather dangerous condition that is characterized by muscle necrosis brought on by activities such as exercising to the extremes or experiencing heat stroke.
The survey showed that of the kids who developed rhabdo, 63 percent of them were hospitalized.
Thus, 96% children with diagnosis such as heat exhaustion / heat stroke were treated and discharged.Within the sample, children with heat related illnesses were significantly younger, of hispanic origin and living in deprived neighbourhoods.
“As Pediatricians and we see the firsthand how the excessive heat affects children’s health”, Merritt said and the significant rise in the heat-related illnesses over the past decade underscores a growing public health concern that warrants further attention and the action”
Yu said the findings underscore the importance for the parents and pediatricians alike to understand how the changing climate can affect children’s health and the safety.