Human tolerance to extreme heat: evidence from a desert climate population

Abstract

Background: Ambient temperatures exceeding 40 °C are projected to become common in many temperate climatic zones due to global warming. Therefore, understanding the health effects of continuous exposure to high ambient temperatures on populations living in hot climatic regions can help identify the limits of human tolerance.

Objective: We studied the relationship between ambient temperature and non-accidental mortality in the hot desert city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, between 2006 and 2015.

Methods: We used a distributed lag nonlinear model to estimate the mortality-temperature association over 25 days of lag. We determined the minimum mortality temperature (MMT) and the deaths that are attributable to heat and cold.

Results: We analyzed 37,178 non-accidental deaths reported in the ten-year study period among Mecca residents. The median average daily temperature was 32 °C (19-42 °C) during the same study period. We observed a U-shaped relationship between daily temperature and mortality with an MMT of 31.8 °C. The total temperature-attributable mortality of Mecca residents was 6.9% (-3.2; 14.8) without reaching statistical significance. However, extreme heat, higher than 38 °C, was significantly associated with increased risk of mortality. The lag structure effect of the temperature showed an immediate impact, followed by a decline in mortality over many days of heat. No effect of cold on mortality was observed.

Impact statement: High ambient temperatures are projected to become future norms in temperate climates. Studying populations familiar with desert climates for generations with access to air-conditioning would inform on the mitigation measures to protect other populations from heat and on the limits of human tolerance to extreme temperatures. We studied the relationship between ambient temperature and all-cause mortality in the hot desert city of Mecca. We found that Mecca population is adapted to high temperatures, although there was a limit to tolerance to extreme heat. This implies that mitigation measures should be directed to accelerate individual adaptation to heat and societal reorganization.

Keywords: Cold-related mortality; Environmental temperature; Heat-related mortality; Heatstroke; Hypothermia.