Chronic Conditions Worsened by Heat

Heat exacerbates different health conditions in different ways. It can worsen COPD by affecting pressure in the lungs and worsen asthma by making it harder for a person’s airways to expand. 

 

Heat can increase risk for patients with heart disease or other cardiac conditions. When it’s hot, blood flow to the skin needs to increase to help direct heat out of the body. But that requires the heart to pump faster and harder. The extra stress can cause heat exhaustion, heat stroke or heart attacks.

Under extreme conditions, or if heat exhaustion isn't treated right away, heat also can damage other organs such as the liver and kidneys. That was the case for many of the 12 senior citizens who died at a nursing center in Broward County when Hurricane Irma knocked out the facility's air conditioning. 

 

In South Florida, there’s some evidence that warmer weather may be contributing to an increase in the percentage of deaths from chronic lung conditions. In the 1970s, lower respiratory conditions like COPD caused between one and two percent of all deaths in Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach counties.

 

Today, health department data shows lower respiratory conditions cause roughly five percent of all deaths in Southeast Florida and the Keys.