Study: Heat stroke can be deadly for older adults
Dr. Kate Latouf
Associated Press
Cristina Couto, supervisor at the Ironbound Senior Center, pours cold water into the cup of Jenny Zeama, 84, bottom, as a group of elderly people play bingo at a city sponsored cooling station in June 2012 in Newark, N.J. Also seen are Evenlyn Maresca, 83, left, and Elsie Figueiredo, 93.
Associated Press
A man runs on a small road June 25 as the sun rises in Frankfurt, Germany. Hot temperatures have been felt across Europe all summer.
Associated Press
A woman shelters from the sun June 28 with an umbrella during a hot summer day, in Pamplona, northern Spain. Hot air from Africa is bringing a heat wave to Europe, prompting health warnings about Sahara Desert dust and exceptionally high temperatures in Spain.
Associated Press
Children play with inflatable flamingos and other creatures at Goose Lake July 5 in Anchorage, Alaska.
Associated Press
A man suns himself at Goose Lake July 5 in Anchorage, Alaska. The official temperature July 4 reached 90 degrees for the first time in Anchorage.
Summer is here along with high heat and humidity.
There have been plenty of headlines over the past couple of weeks about record-breaking heat in Europe and even 90 degree temperatures in Alaska.
Surging summer heat is not only uncomfortable, it can also be deadly.
A new study published in New England Journal of Medicine focused on heatstroke with special attention paid to seniors and aging populations. The results were startling showing heatstroke in older adults may prove fatal in more than half the cases.
Heatstroke is the most hazardous condition in a range of illnesses progressing from heat exhaustion to heatstroke. The underlying cause is called hyperthermia which is a rise in the core body temperature when it accumulates too much heat and can’t get rid of it.
Dr. Kate Latouf, Medical Director of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Canonsburg Hospital, said older adults, children and infants are more susceptible to heat-related illnesses.
“The body’s temperature regulation fails,” Latouf said, “and that excessive heat can then progress from a heat related illness or exhaustion all the way to heat stroke.”
Heat exhaustion is a milder illness and patients typically will have profuse sweating, muscle cramps, feel lightheaded and sometimes symptoms may include nausea and vomiting.
Latouf said it’s an indicator your body’s temperature regulation is being tested. If heat exposure continues, the illness can progress to the level of heatstroke.
“At some point, the excessive body heat is not able to be dissipated and the patient’s body temperature rises to the point that they then begin to suffer symptoms that are neurological,” Latouf said. “That would include confusion, sometimes seizures, and that’s where we start to worry about heatstroke.”
That’s when patients exhibit neurological symptoms such as confusion, dizziness and weakness.
Clinically, heatstroke is characterized by central nervous system dysfunction and multiorgan failure. The study showed classic heatstroke frequently occurs as an epidemic among seniors whose ability to adjust physiologically to heat stress has become compromised.
U.S. National Weather Service data shows heat waves kill more people, on average, than any other extreme weather event.
Why are older adults more susceptible to heat related illness and heatstroke?
Many physical and social factors play a role including the fact that our bodies can’t regulate heat or get rid of it as easily as we age.
“There are medications that sometimes can affect that,” Latouf said. “So if you’re taking blood pressure medications or diuretics or other meds that can affect the way your body is able to dissipate heat, that can put you at higher risk for for hyperthermia and heat exhaustion or heatstroke.”
Latouf said seniors also tend to be more homebound.
“If they’re living in an environment without the benefit of air-conditioning or social interaction,” she added, “their condition may worsen without anyone being cognizant of it.”
Prevention is easy
“Preventing heatstroke really is much easier than treating it,” Latouf said. “It seems fairly simple to stay out of the sun if at all possible and stay indoors hopefully with air conditioning. I you don’t have access to that, there are cooling centers during heat waves or your local library or shopping mall are options.”
Latouf said using a fan won’t always be a solution.
“The unfortunate part is that when temperatures reach the 90s, using a fan really doesn’t provide you any protection from a heat related illness,” she said. “It’s just not able to bring your body temperature down and the other important thing is to drink plenty of water and stay hydrated.”
Latouf stressed the importance of checking on family members and neighbors during excessive heatwaves.
How to treat it
How can help be provided to someone who is exhibiting signs of a heat-related illness?
The study shows in elderly people with classic heatstroke, cold-water immersion works well to cool the body, but the treatment of choice involves evaporative cooling.
Evaporative cooling means infusing the body with cold fluids, applying ice packs and wet compresses and fanning. The study results show these methods are better tolerated by older adults and are also readily accessible in an epidemic of classic heatstroke during long heatwaves.
Do genetics
play a role?
We all react to heat and cold differently, and one note in the study included the question of whether heatstroke and heat tolerance are genetic traits.
The study looked at how rats reacted to heat stress and concluded the way our bodies handle and react to heat may be due to heredity and our genes. The authors suggested future research is likely to include identifying genetic traits that might reduce a person’s ability to cope with heat stress and searching for new biomarkers that can actually predict short and long-term outcomes of heatstroke.