The risk of dying from respiratory disease is higher in summer than in winter

As the temperature drops, this sentence comes back again “Put on your coat, it’ll be cold.” As popular wisdom clearly reflects and hospital statistics demonstrate, Chances of getting sick are higher in colder months. Falling temperatures are often accompanied by an increase in cases of the common cold, flu, or laryngitis. In the general population, these winter illnesses cause discomfort for several days and usually resolve after rest as the immune system neutralizes the threat. However, for people with pre-existing conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or immunosuppression, complications may worsen until they eventually require hospitalization.

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However, while increases in respiratory illness cases are linked to the colder months, Doesn’t mean cold is the cause of illness. For a person to become ill, a set of conditions must exist that allow environmental pathogens to colonize the body.

How to get sick step by step

The first and most important is pathogen exposure. Microorganisms cannot cause disease if they do not come into contact with people. In the case of respiratory illnesses, they are most commonly spread through contact with infected people or animals.During the warmer months, meetings are often held outdoors or in open spaces that allow ventilation and air renewal, but In winter, meetings are often held in smaller, enclosed spaces with poor ventilation and difficulty keeping warm.

when breathing or speaking, The airflow we expel tears small droplets from the mucus and releases them in vitro. These droplets are about a few hundred microns in size, small enough to float around a room for several seconds. In a closed room, most droplets will end up on the floor or furniture, but some may be inhaled by others present. For healthy people, droplets usually consist of water and mucus residue, but if one person in the room has an unwanted host, such as a virus or bacteria, Droplets can serve as vectors for carrying pathogens to other diners..

Once the pathogen reaches the respiratory tract, A series of defenses must be overcome before colonizing the body.this slime Special cells that trap viruses and bacteria in a matrix that makes them difficult to move are called hair cells They act like a conveyor belt to drain said mucus, and immune system It attempts to engulf and destroy any pathogens that try to colonize our upper respiratory tract. However, Falling temperatures slow activity Hair cells and the immune system. This reduction in activity may create security gaps that infectious agents can exploit to colonize the body.

Finally, a large number of respiratory pathogens Maximizes its playability at slightly cooler temperatures than our normal bodies. Thus, greater exposure to viruses and bacteria, lower immune system activity, and specialization of pathogens create a breeding ground for an increased likelihood of runny noses, sore throats, and days spent in bed.

In older adults or people who are immunocompromised, the infection may worsen and lead to hospitalization. therefore, The number of hospital admissions in winter is much higher than in summer.

However, the Barcelona Global Health Institute found unexpected data connections after analyzing hospital statistics in the provinces of Madrid and Barcelona.

Summer is worse

Most studies analyzing body temperature and respiratory illness have focused on hospitalizations. However, the number of articles analyzing mortality after hospital admission for respiratory disease is very limited. Such investigations usually focus on specific conditions and, therefore, They do not show the overall picture of mortality among people with respiratory disease. To answer this question, the study carried out by ISGLOBAL collected ambient temperature data recorded in the provinces of Madrid and Barcelona from 2006 to 2019 and analyzed hospital admissions and deaths due to respiratory diseases during the same period.

After analyzing more than 1,700,000 hospitalizations, admission outcomes were expected, Winter generates more revenue Many more died from respiratory illnesses. However, Although fewer patients with respiratory illnesses are admitted in the summer, a higher proportion of hospitalized patients die.

try to understand why

research shows Thermal effects are almost immediate. The highest proportion of deaths occurred three days after a significant increase in temperatures. Obviously, Heat aggravates existing diseasesEspecially bronchitis, pneumonia and respiratory failure. Finally, according to study author Joan Ballester, This effect is particularly significant for women It may be due to physiological differences in body temperature regulation between the sexes.

Researchers More research is needed to understand the increase in in-hospital mortality. One of the hypotheses being considered is that health services are strengthened to cope with the peak in hospital admissions that occurs during the winter, which could help reduce mortality. But that was not the case during the summer, when there were no concrete protocols or personnel reinforcements. However, as they explain, with more and more hot days and years, more and more temperature records are being broken, Hospital policies should be considered around new situations arising from climate change. Hicham Achebak, lead author of the study, commented: “Unless effective adaptation measures are implemented in hospital settings, Warming climate may worsen hospital mortality

Respiratory diseases due to hot season.

Now, we have to remember that this is an observational study. Marc Miravitlles, a pulmonology specialist at the Hebron Valley Hospital in Barcelona, ​​told the Spanish Center for Scientific Media that although the study provides very reliable data and the link between the two is clear, Some factors are beyond the researcher’s control. These factors include vacation time for health care workers, the severity of patient admissions, or the socioeconomic level of people who spend their summers in large cities.

Climate change causes more severe diseases

Ultimately, numbers are what they are. The proportion of hospital deaths from respiratory illnesses is higher in summer than in winter. In a world where climate change is playing an alarmingly dominant role, Health systems must be acutely aware of new threats and vigilant in order to adapt. These studies help understand how rising temperatures directly affect people’s health and hopefully Help take necessary steps to minimize its impact.