We have been trying to understand how heat kills us for years. Some Spanish researchers have found their ‘right hand’: pollution

In August 2003 there was a heat wave. It wasn’t just any heat wave. It was one of the worst in memory. Researchers do not agree, but it is estimated that in Spain there were about 6,600 deaths due to excess mortality only in the first fortnight of the month. Almost 13,000 at the end of the month.

However, from heat stroke (the picture we imagine when we think of dying “from heat”) only 141 died. The rest died because the heat aggravated pathologies they already had.

In recent years and in the hope of finding ways to fight against “the (natural) phenomenon that kills the most in Europe”, many researchers have tried to understand how heat enhances these diseases. And all roads lead to the same place: pollution.

That pollution kills is not news. It is something that, in fact, It is very documented. What is new is being able to see how the disease does its dirty work in the middle of a heat wave. An ISCIII team estimated these days that, on average, 18.7% of excess mortality What today we attribute to temperature corresponds to pollution. That is, one in five.

If we add the haze, the percentage would amount to 22.5%.

And how does this happen? It is something that is closely related to the atmospheric functioning of a heat wave. In general terms, this type of phenomena occurs in two ways: by an anticyclonic block and the other is by a Saharan advection.

In the first case, stability and sunshine prevent pollutants are dispersed and tropospheric ozone is triggered. In the second, the air mass comes with suspended dust. That is, although they work differently. The two major mechanisms destroy air quality and pose a public health threat.

Why is this important? Because in Spain Many people die in this ‘perfect storm’ heat and pollution. What’s more, even if they do not die, the loss of quality of life associated with hospital admissions and acute outbreaks is tremendous.

And what do we do? The background proposal of the researchers is simpler than it seems: go from an alert and threshold system based only on temperature to one that combines temperature and pollution. This would allow us to adapt better.

For example, during a heat wave, we could encourage teleworking, traffic limitations and redirect public activities to areas with less pollution. This does not replace the usual measures, but they allow us to improve the way we think about that silent killer that is heat.

Image | János Venczák

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