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Heat and health inequity: acting on determinants of health to promote heat justice

Nature Reviews Nephrology volume 19, pages 143–144 (2023)Cite this article

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Climate change is increasing global temperatures and causing more frequent and severe extreme heat events. The resulting additional disease burden is inequitably distributed. Strategies that reduce inequities in heat exposure and vulnerability to heat-related illness, as well as health protections at multiple levels (from individual to regional), are urgently needed to contain the looming crisis.

In June 2021, the Pacific Northwest of the USA experienced an unprecedented extreme heat event that would not have occurred without anthropogenic climate change1. This event caused an equally unprecedented spike in emergency medical service calls, emergency department visits and mortality2. In Seattle, emergency departments were overwhelmed by the rapid influx of critically ill patients with heat stroke or heat-related exacerbations of chronic diseases. These patients were highly vulnerable owing to factors that included older age, multiple chronic diseases, drug and alcohol use disorders, social isolation, housing in areas with little tree cover and a lack of resources to protect themselves from extreme heat.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Jeremy Hess

  2. Department of Global Health, Schools of Medicine and Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Jeremy Hess

  3. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Jeremy Hess

  4. The Center for Health and the Global Environment, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Jeremy Hess

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  1. Jeremy Hess
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Correspondence to Jeremy Hess.

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Hess, J. Heat and health inequity: acting on determinants of health to promote heat justice. Nat Rev Nephrol 19, 143–144 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41581-023-00679-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41581-023-00679-z

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