Heat, cold and climate change

摘要

Heat is the most direct route from climate change to human health. The links between high temperatures and increased mortality and morbidity have been described in great detail in many settings around the world, and the physiological mechanisms are well understood. The effects are frequently magnified when there are consecutive days of very high temperatures (heat waves). Indeed extreme events such as the European heat wave of 2003 may provide some of the first evidence of impacts of climate change on human health.