A study has revealed that the risk of death increases following extreme rainfall events, particularly from heart and lung conditions. Researchers noted that climate change is contributing to the growing frequency and intensity of short-term rainfall events, highlighting a concerning link between these phenomena and negative health impacts, including the spread of infectious diseases. This conclusion is based on an analysis of over 62,000 rainfall events worldwide.
According to a report of PTI, the study by the team, including researchers from the German Research Center for Environmental Health, provides a global perspective of how extreme rainfall events can impact health, they said.
The researchers analyzed daily death and rainfall data from 645 locations across 34 countries and regions, covering the period from 1980 to 2020. They examined over 100 million deaths from all causes, along with more than 31 million deaths related to heart conditions and 11.5 million deaths due to lung conditions. The study found that a day of extreme rainfall, which could potentially recur within the next five years, is associated with an 8% increase in deaths from any cause during the 14 days following the extreme weather event.
The study also revealed that such extreme rainfall events were linked to a 5% increase in cardiovascular deaths and nearly a 30% rise in lung-related mortality within the two weeks following the rainfall.
"Daily rainfall intensity is associated with varying health effects, with extreme events linked to an increasing relative risk for all cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality. The observed associations varied with local climate and urban infrastructure," the authors wrote in the study published in the British Medical Journal.