Munich While Germany was celebrating the soccer World Cup in 2006 in its own country, the patients of the lung specialist Christian Witt in the Berlin Charité suffered from the then record heat. The condition of some patients worsened, and some may have died from the heat. When he and his colleagues cooled the room temperature down to 23 degrees, the patients quickly felt better. They needed less medication and the length of their hospital stays was reduced.
Christian Witt, heat researcher and senior professor at the Charité, then began researching the effects of heat on health. In an interview, he warns of the serious health consequences and the rapidly increasing number of deaths. Currently, these are massively under-recorded in statistics, since patients usually do not die directly from the heat, but “with” it, which aggravates health problems. Companies whose employees mainly work outside would have to hire “heat managers” who ensure that precautionary measures are implemented.
Office environments would also have to be geared more towards better heat protection. In addition, large municipalities such as Berlin, where the temperatures in the centers are significantly higher, should set up public “cold rooms”.
Read the full interview here:
Mr. Witt, while the Germans are going on their summer holidays, holiday countries like Italy are suffering from a massive heat wave. Water is becoming scarce, farmers are burning their harvest. And hot days are ahead of us too. What do temperatures around 40 degrees mean for human health?
The elderly and the chronically ill suffer the most. Anyone who was able to move reasonably well before is now restricted. In short, one can say: The sick get sicker. Chronic bronchitis, asthma, heart failure or high blood pressure worsen. Those affected need more medication, lose their jobs and even have to go to the hospital. However, the heat is also a major burden for healthy people. Physical work is really difficult from 30 degrees.
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The pneumologist is a heat researcher and senior professor at the Berlin Charité. Previously, he was a long-standing clinical university professor of pulmonary medicine there.
(Photo: Private)
Should you still go on holiday in southern Europe in the summer?
There are people who rave about 40 degrees. But if you have previous medical conditions, such as kidney problems, such temperatures are potentially dangerous.
“The sick not only get sicker – they end up dying from the heat”
How serious is the situation from a medical point of view?
The development of midsummer temperatures is risky. Of course, the sick don’t just get sicker – they end up dying from the heat.
According to a recent study by the Robert Koch Institute, 8,700 people paid for the unusually hot year 2018 in Germany with their lives.
That’s still a very conservative estimate. In Germany we already have a temperature rise of 1.46 degrees compared to the period between 1960 and 1990. In the case of cancer, one would say: the condition is advanced. A study published in the journal “Lancet” assumes an additional 17 heat deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in Western Europe, in Eastern Europe it is almost twice as many, due to less heat protection, higher temperatures and poorer health care.
Then Germany would already have an average of over 14,000 heat deaths per year. But they rarely show up in statistics. Isn’t “heat” considered a cause of death?
Exactly. Because with the exception of a heat stroke, these people don’t die primarily of course, but with the heat. It is an intensifier of already existing diseases, and the peak will not be reached until the end of the century. In addition, there are the local effects of warming and drought, such as the concentration of particulate matter, ozone or nitrogen oxide. Drought prevents these pollutants from being washed out of the air. The pollutants cause almost 100,000 premature deaths in Germany every year. Fortunately, the number will decrease in the future due to the reduction in emissions from mobility and heating. On the other hand, without protective measures, more people will die from the high temperatures. Therefore, we urgently need to prepare for the consequences of warming.
“The warm season will be dangerous”
And how?
First, there needs to be a change in consciousness. Especially for the chronically ill, the elderly and their relatives, it should no longer be “Hurrah”, but “Warning, summer!” The warm season becomes dangerous. Vulnerable groups should review their medication and, if they can, adjust their housing to at least have a well-cooled room. Studies show that if we adapt our design so that buildings cool better, we reduce the consequences of direct heat effects by half.
What can municipalities do?
Implement the heat action plans that already exist. This means that cities like Berlin, for example, provide publicly accessible cold rooms in which residents can cool down for a few hours. Something like this has been missing so far, but is an essential part of health protection in the face of global warming. We cannot leave older people alone in overheated rented apartments. Or rely on the more mobile ones to cool off in air-conditioned department stores. I have patients who sit in their cars for hours because of the air conditioning. Understandably so: Especially in the center of Berlin it sometimes gets eight degrees warmer than in the periphery. Sometimes I suffer enormously from this heat.
What responsibility do companies have to protect their employees from heat?
A big one, if only for the sake of productivity. The first effect of heat is decreased concentration. Our country lives from its innovative power, it needs intellectual excellence. With heat-adaptive measures, employers can reduce room temperatures and ensure a good working atmosphere. For example, through air conditioning, green facades or the use of building materials that reject heat. Glass fronts, on the other hand, heat up the room climate. I believe that we can only master climate change if we also use it as a driver for innovations, especially with regard to low-CO2 technologies and renewable energies. Necessity is the mother of invention.
Do the field workers who harvest the vegetables and fruit in the fields see it that way too?
Of course we have to protect vulnerable people. “Outdoor” workers belong to the risk group in Germany. Harvesters will probably need “heat managers” in the future who pay attention to breaks in the shade and the hydration of the harvest workers. This is essential to prevent kidney failure or heat stroke.
“At the end of the century we will count more heat deaths than particulate matter deaths”
Do you understand that Finance Minister Christian Lindner is opposed to the end of combustion engines from 2035?
Hardly, especially in view of the many chronically ill people and premature deaths. This is because air pollutants are also produced when synthetic fuels, which can be used to fill up combustion engines, are burned. Although fewer fine dust particles, but more carbon monoxide and constant nitrogen oxides. Combustion engines have no future in passenger cars across the board. Electric cars are already reducing pollution from fine dust and nitrogen oxides. This will be even better in the future. However, the heat will have a greater impact, so that by the end of the century we will be counting more deaths from heat than from particulate matter.
That sounds like bad news, especially for a country with an aging population.
That was a long time coming. We are seeing forced signs of warming and are currently receiving a hefty warning from our planet. But whining doesn’t help, we now have to take care of adapting to a changing environment. And everyone has to see how they save CO2.
Mr. Witt, thank you very much for the interview.
More: Municipalities warn of water shortages: pools could become a “real problem” in summer.