Longer, more intense heat waves and increased air pollution from smog and wildfires could adversely affect the health of Californians under scenarios for climate change.
Heat waves have been increasing in recent decades in the state, and scientists expect air pollution to worsen in the coming decades, exacerbated by a longer fire season.
Hospitalizations and emergency room visits increase as the temperature rises, with an influx of patients suffering from cases related to cardiovascular and respiratory disease and diabetes, as well as intestinal infectious disease.
Deaths also are expected to increase with the rise in temperature, and not all deaths would be from hyperthermia or dehydration. Most would occur in people older than 65 and who are chronically ill. Relatively young to middle-aged people also are at risk if they work outdoors or exercise strenuously.
The two-week heat wave that hit most of the state in July 2006 led to more than 140 deaths, health officials say. Daytime temperatures were high but not record-breaking; nighttime temperatures, however, were higher than ever and played a key role in the deaths.
One study found that there may have been two to three times more heat-related deaths in that heat wave that went unrecorded.
The benefits of tough state rules designed to reduce air pollution may be offset by warm sunny days, scientists say. The stagnant atmospheric conditions trap pollutants close to the ground, where they form ozone, or smog, a health threat.San Francisco Chronicle
