People with schizophrenia were one of the hardest hit groups during a searing 2021 heat wave, new research finds, with a 200% increased risk of a heat-related death compared with typical summers.
On 25 June 2021, as a blanket of hot air descended on the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia’s provincial government issued a news release warning about the approaching heat wave’s dangers. The announcement drew attention to the elderly, children, people working or exercising outdoors, pets, and “people with emotional or mental health issues whose judgment may be impaired.”
“We didn’t protect them,” laments Sarah Henderson, an environmental epidemiologist at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control who oversaw the research, published on 15 March in the journal. “These results show that people with schizophrenia need extra protection, extra support, and extra care.”
Henderson expected the data to confirm the widespread belief that kidney disease and heart disease are key risk factors during extreme heat. The records did show people with coronary artery disease were 18% more likely to die during the 2021 heat wave than in previous years, and those with kidney disease were 36% more likely to die. But the increase in schizophrenia deaths dwarfed both those conditions.
For instance, schizophrenia can affect the brain’s hypothalamus, which helps regulate temperature through sweating and shivering. Some antipsychotic medications can raise body temperature, which can have deadly effects when coupled with extreme heat. The disease affects people’s ability to make reasoned decisions or sense when they are ill. People with schizophrenia tend to have other conditions tied to heat-related illness, such as diabetes.
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