LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – People in Southern Nevada know the heat can be brutal.
The Southern Nevada Health District said 2023 was quite deadly as well. It provided FOX5 with a report that shows heat-related deaths jumped 78% to 294 in 2023, compared to 165 in 2022.
The health district also said that 2,277 heat-related emergency department visits were recorded, with the peak for both emergency department visits and deaths happening near the middle and end of July. A SNHD epidemiologist says it’s important for the health district to collect and pass on the information to the public.
“To be aware that there is real danger going out there in high temperatures,” said Alexis Brignola with the Southern Nevada Health District.
The health district’s report also shows that of 2023′s heat-related deaths, 73% were male and 27% were female. The report didn’t show any heat-related deaths of people ages zero to 25 years old.
It says 26 people who died were between the ages of 26 and 34. The report says 48 people between the ages of 35 and 44 died, 123 people between the ages of 45 and 64 died from the heat and 97 people who were 65 or older died from heat-related issues.
The report indicated that 57% of heat-associated deaths were not homeless people. 24% were homeless and 19% were unknown.
The health district report shows that heat-associated deaths were concentrated in the downtown area, with the top three zip codes being 89101, 89030 and 89104. This area is also one of the hottest areas identified by a 2022 Southern Nevada heat mapping project. The project was set up to identify ways to mitigate heat islands.
FOX5 asked about the reason for the big jump in reported heat-related deaths in 2023. County officials say it’s difficult to say why there was an increase, but say the standards the Coroner’s Office uses to track deaths changed in 2021.
Officials say the new standards allow the county to better track the deaths. The county also said certain drug classifications make people more susceptible to succumbing to the heat, including the use of drugs like fentanyl, which the county says has significantly increased.
Other contributing factors in heat deaths can include illnesses and medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, as well as behaviors such as physical exertion, inappropriate clothing, lack of acclimatization and poor fluid intake.
The SNHD report can be found below.
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