The footprint of human-induced climate change on heat-related deaths in the summer of 2022 in Switzerland-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

The footprint of human-induced climate change on heat-related deaths in the summer of 2022 in Switzerland

Published:2023-03-10 Issue: Volume: Page:
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Author:

Vicedo-Cabrera Ana¹^ORCID,de Schrijver Evan²^ORCID,Schumacher Dominik L.³,Ragettli Martina⁴,Fischer Erich³^ORCID,Seneviratne Sonia⁵^ORCID

Affiliation:

1. University of Bern, Bern

2. Graduate School of Health Science, University of Bern

3. ETH Zurich

4. Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel

5. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich

Abstract

Abstract As in most countries in Europe, the 2022 summer in Switzerland was exceptionally hot, only comparable to the infamous 2003 summer, and particularly devastating in terms of excess health burden. Here we combine methods in climate epidemiology and attribution to quantify the mortality associated with heat and the contribution of human-induced climate change in the 2022 summer in Switzerland. We estimate 623 deaths [95% empirical confidence interval (95% eCI): 151 - 1,068] due to heat between June-August 2022, corresponding to 3.5% of all-cause mortality. More importantly, we find that 60% of this burden (370 deaths [95% eCI: 133-644]) could have been avoided in absence of human-induced climate change. Older women were affected the most, as well as populations in western and southern Switzerland and more urbanized areas. Our findings demonstrate that human-induced climate change was a relevant driver of the exceptional excess health burden observed in Switzerland.

Publisher

Research Square Platform LLC

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