The U.S. is seeing high levels of heat-related illness this year, according to data the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided to NPR.
The agency has been collecting national data on heat-related illness from emergency departments since 2018 and currently releases it daily through its Heat & Health Tracker.
The data serves as an early-warning system for communities suffering from the heat. “It’s providing real-time health information,” says Claudia Brown, a health scientist with the CDC’s Climate and Health Program.
The agency provided NPR with historical data and an analysis of 2023’s trends to date. The historic data is limited to places that have reported regularly so that rates that can be compared over time. Explore trends in your region and see when rates of illness have spiked.
The CDC collects this data through its National Syndromic Surveillance Program, which takes in anonymized information from electronic health records shared by participating medical facilities. About 75% of the nation’s emergency departments report into the program.
Some recent spikes in heat-related illness
This summer, hospitals recorded a large spike in heat-related illness in the region that includes Texas as well as Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma. According to the CDC analysis, for several days in June, the rates of emergency department visits for heat-related illness were the highest seen in this region in the past five years.
Parts of the region saw above-average temperatures last month. According to the Texas Tribune, a mid-month heat wave brought “an unusually high number of 100-degree days.”
And…
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