Key points
- Heat can harm physical and mental health.
- Make a 5-Step Heat Action Plan with your patients to help them protect their health on hot days.
- Since warmer temperatures can worsen air quality, CDC's heat action plan also includes steps to protect health from poor air quality.
Background
Hot days can harm physical and mental health. While all people can have health harms from heat, some people may be more at risk, including:
- infants and children,
- pregnant women,
- adults over age 65,
- people with disabilities,
- people with mental health conditions,
- people with chronic health conditions,
- people with substance-use disorders,
- people who lack housing and/or quality housing,
- people who lack access to cooling,
- people who are socially isolated,
- people who breathe polluted air,
- people who work in outdoor and indoor heat, and
- people who engage in strenuous outdoor activities including athletes.
Hot days have been associated with
- worse pregnancy and birth outcomes and
- more emergency department visits and hospitalizations, including for
- heat-illness, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, asthma, diabetes, kidney diseases, mental health conditions, and injuries, including injuries at work.
Risk factors
Where an individual lives, works, plays, and learns can influence their heat exposure. City neighborhoods often have fewer trees and less greenspace to provide cooling, and more pavement and dark surfaces that retain heat. These urban "heat islands" experience hotter temperatures than surrounding areas and are common in low-wealth urban communities.
Rural communities also face health risks from heat. Rural communities have less access to cooling, have farther distances to travel to seek care, and have more people who work outdoors compared to urban areas. Rural communities have been found to use heat-related health care services more often than urban communities.
Those who spend time outdoors on hot days, particularly with high levels of physical exertion, are at increased risk from heat-related health outcomes. This includes farm and agricultural workers, construction workers, landscapers, military personnel, and people participating in outdoor exercise, recreation, and sports. Wearing personal protective equipment while working or playing may make people hotter.
Heat and medication
Medications and heat can interact, leading to potentially severe side effects. Many medications, including over the counter medications, can impair heat tolerance and the body's ability to regulate its temperature. This can predispose people to heat illness during hot days.
Patient management
These 5 steps can help your patients stay safe on hot days. Help your patients and their caregivers document action steps in a Heat Action Plan. If your patients include children or teens with asthma, pregnant women, or adults with cardiovascular disease, visit these pages.
