Heatwaves increase risk of hospitalization for children with asthma: Study

A recent study by the University of California, San Francisco found that children are more likely to be hospitalized for severe asthma complications during heatwaves after examining health data from children admitted to hospitals between June and September from 2017 to 2020.

Heatwaves were defined in 18 different ways by analysing the range of high temperatures and their duration, considering temperatures in the top 99%, top 97.5%, top 95%, and so on.

Reference: M. Ye, A. Ndovu, A.V. Nguyen, D. Long, T. Benmarhnia, and N. Thakur. Extreme Heat and Asthma Hospitalizations in Children in California (2017-2020) (abstract). Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2024;209:A2728.