Earlier this month the cold snap across Europe claimed more than 60 lives. In Poland temperatures fell to below -30°C in some regions and 10 people died of the cold on 8 January alone. Meanwhile in Greece and Turkey refugees and homeless people suffered greatly in the unseasonably heavy snow. The sad thing is that almost all of these deaths were preventable.
Every winter hypothermia extends its icy grip, causing 25,000 extra deaths per year in England for example. A decrease in air temperature of 1°C causes a 1.35% increase in mortality across Europe, and added up over the years, cold weather has caused far more deaths than any single heatwave event.
Medically, hypothermia is defined as when the body’s core temperature drops below 35°C, bringing about changes in the composition of the blood and raising the risk of cardiovascular diseases, among other things. Older people are particularly vulnerable, along with children and people suffering from other diseases. So how can we better protect people?
A new study carried out in the Lublin region of Poland has analysed what kind of interventions seemed to have the greatest effect. The results, published in the journal Weather, show that it isn’t just the severe cold snaps that we need to worry about. In fact around 70% of cases in their study occurred early in the winter (between October and December), which they speculate may relate to people being less adapted to the cold, and less prepared.
All of us need to dig out our hats, gloves and winter woollies far earlier, and European health authorities need to start taking preventative action from September, they suggest.
At the upmarket Cloudnine hospital in Gurgaon, the latest accessory among parents is a temperature-taking bracelet for newborns.
The bracelets, made by Bangalore-based startup Bempu, constantly monitor a baby’s temperature and sound an alert if it goes too high or too low. Doctors use the bracelets while babies are in neonatal intensive care or prescribe them for babies being discharged.
“New mothers are very worried about whether their babies are too warm or too cold,” says Dr Sanjay Wazir, director of the neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital. “[The bracelets] are better than a thermometer because they are continuously monitoring the baby’s temperature.”
In India, 8 million prematurely-born underweight babies every year are at high risk of developing hypothermia, where body temperatures fall below 36.5C, which contributes to fatal conditions such as asphyxia, sepsis and pneumonia. India has the highest number of infant deaths caused by premature birth, most of which could be prevented. Maintaining a newborn’s body temperature is critical to its survival.
Baby in Gudalur wearing a Bempu bracelet. Photograph: Bempu
Bempu is currently running a pilot scheme in the desert state of Rajasthan, funded by health foundation WISH, which aims to make its bracelets a staple free handout for all babies discharged early from government hospitals.
The chaos of government hospitals can lead to oversights when monitoring newborns’ temperatures, says Gini Morgan, head of public health at Bempu, which has benefitted from grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USAid, UK Aid and other agencies.
“The beds are always filled, the entire family is in the waiting room every day, there are often three babies in one incubator, where there should be only one. There’s a lack of staff, the nurses are overworked, running around with competing priorities. In all that, its hard to manage all these high-risk babies.”
Many hospitals discharge babies early to free up cots, or because parents need to return to remote villages and cannot afford to wait for long periods at the hospital. “Parents travel to district hospitals and they need to get back home,” Morgan explains. “Every day that they’re away from work, they’re missing a pay check.”
Once home, parents are less likely to notice symptoms of hypothermia or have adequate information about how to keep babies warm. Half the world’s newborn babies die at home, almost all of those who die are in developing countries. Hypothermia is one of the leading contributors to these deaths. Fortunately Bempu bracelets are powered by a battery that runs for a month, the critical period for newborns.
Bempu bracelets are powered by a battery that runs for a month, the critical period for newborns. Photograph: Bempu
“It’s not the same as using a thermometer because the device is constantly monitoring the baby’s temperature. Say you take the baby’s temperature now, it can fall after 30 minutes, and you may not notice,” says Dr Wazir, who hopes a crowdfunding campaign will help supply Bempu bracelets to underprivileged mothers at his Premature Babies Foundation, ahead of the winter months, when the risk of hypothermia rises.
But the bracelets alone are not enough, says Dr Vishnu Bhat from the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research in Pondicherry, who conducted an independent study of their accuracy, the results of which are yet to be published. “We found that the nurses were taking temperatures more accurately than the Bempu bracelets. But the bracelets were good, we found they gave an accurate temperature reading between 85-90% of the time,” he said.
“The bracelets would be useful to mothers who live far from the hospital, the alarm system provides a warning to the mother that the baby is unwell. It would also be good in postnatal wards where nurses are in short supply. But of course, the temperature is not the only issue, mothers need to be trained, they need to be told what to do if the temperature is too low or too high,” he said.
Nearly half of those surveyed explained they were anxious that elderly relatives had been too cold in their houses. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA
British home owners are placing their health on the line by trying to keep the heating off even when they feel cold rather than pay out soaring vitality payments, according to a new survey out on Thursday.
Practically 65% of 1,800 adults questioned last week in a nationwide poll explained they would not flip the gasoline or electricity on or up when feeling chilly, with the figure rising to 76% for individuals aged sixteen to 24. Virtually half individuals surveyed said they had been concerned that elderly family members had been too cold in their homes at this time of year, and there are fears that 9,000 people could be left at danger of hypothermia.
Figures from the Workplace for National Statistics showed an virtually 30% enhance in winter deaths in England and Wales final winter given that 2011-12 and expenses have risen since then.
“This research paints a extremely stark picture of the real issues arising from many years of sharp vitality value rises and the UK’s poorly insulated residences,” said Mark Todd, co-founder of energyhelpline.com.
“Obviously, millions of Britons are placing their overall health on the line as they concern that they cannot afford to heat their residences – 64% of us are saying that we will not turn up the heating when we really feel cold for worry of how high the bill will be,” he extra.
The Planet Well being Organisation has calculated that about 9,000 people died last year by means of becoming as well cold in their homes in the United kingdom. If 9,000 people had been dying in train crashes or terrorist attacks there would be a large nationwide outcry, stated energyhelpline.
It extra: “The reason that there is not a massive nationwide outrage about this is that individuals are suffering and some dying in their residences, not out on public view, not on the 10 o’clock information, but quietly behind closed doors.”
