Winter (Photo : REUTERS/BRENDAN MCDERMID)
A recent global warming study revealed that global warm winters would not lower the death rates during the winter. The research was conducted for over three decades and involved 39 international cities.
The team of researchers from Columbia University has used the temperature and mortality data from 36 U.S. cities and three cities in France including Paris. They have discovered that warming climate trend caused smaller reductions in winter related deaths. Patrick Kinney, lead author of the study, said that global warming is unlikely to lessen the number of death rates on winter time, University Herald reported.
Kinney's team got the mortality rates data from the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics and the French National Institute for Statistics and Economics Studies from 1971 to 2007, comparing it to the temperature data. Their findings suggest that cities with warmer winters have the same rates of winter deaths as compared to colder winter cities counterparts. There is also a little relationship evident between the mortality and cold temperatures.
The cities involved in the study vary widely in terms of urban design, demography, and socio-cultural background, which might be influence exposure to temperature outside and related mortality risks. It may include lack of exercise and mobility, more time spent indoors, and low humidity in the air.
Philip Staddon of the University of Exeter said that harsh winters, with swings from cold to mild linked to rising greenhouse gas emissions, may even raise death rates compared to the winter period, according to The Standard Daily. He added that the recent study is likely applicable to other developed countries with more extreme weather conditions.
