Study: Men in their sixties more likely to die from heart attack on warm summer nights

By Tom Campbell via SWNS

Men in their sixties are more likely to die from a heart attack on warmer summer nights, warns a new study.

A one degree Celsius rise in temperature could translate to a four percent rise in the number of deaths from heart and blood diseases, according to the findings.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) cause a quarter of all deaths in the UK, more than 160,000 each year, or once every three minutes.

Previous studies have looked at whether spells of warm weather during the summer were linked to a surge in deaths from heart and blood conditions.

But when taking into account people's age and gender, findings have been inconsistent.

Now researchers at the University of Toronto in Canada have taken a closer look and found rises in temperature could mean the difference between life and death for men in their 60s.

The findings were published in the BMJ.

Author post-graduate student Haris Majeed said: “The present findings should stimulate similar investigation of exposure and event rates in other populous mid-latitude to high-latitude regions.

"Considering the growing likelihood of extreme summers in Western USA and UK, our results invite preventive population health initiatives and novel urban policies aimed at reducing future risk of CVD events.”

Data on adults who died in June or July from cardiovascular diseases between 2001 and 2015 was analyzed by the researchers.

These months are when the majority of heatwaves are likely to occur in England and Wales.

Official data was also collected from regions across the United States at parallel latitudes to England and Wales like King County and Washington.

These regions have similar atmospheric properties with relatively few people having air conditioning at home.

There were 39,912 CVD deaths from cardiovascular diseases recorded between 2001 and 2015 in England and Wales and 488 deaths in King County.

An increase of one degree Celsius in summer night-time temperatures was associated with a 3.1 percent increase in mortality among men aged 60 to 64, the researchers found.

In King County, a one-degree rise increased the risk of death by 4.8 percent among those aged 65 and under, but not in older men.

Overall deaths from heart and blood diseases fell over the 15 year period, in line with better preventative care.

Mr. Majeed said: "Nevertheless, a considerable residual risk persisted and in England and Wales, event rates remained more than 50 percent higher in adults aged 65 to 69 than in those aged 60 to 64 years.

"This was worrying because in recent years, populous regions such as the ones studied had experienced a proportionate rise in night-time rather than daytime summer heat intensity."