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Revisiting Masselot et al. (2023): assessing the share of excess mortality linked to cold and hot weather in Europe

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Abstract

While a considerable focus has been placed on excess fatalities during hot weather, a reanalysis of European data reveals that excess mortality attributed to cold weather is significantly more pronounced, surpassing that linked to hot weather by an order of magnitude. These ratios are noteworthy: 56.32 for the United Kingdom, 43.56 for Northern Europe, 8.49 for Western Europe, 12.41 for Eastern Europe, 5.50 for Southern Europe, and an overall ratio of 10.09 for Europe as a whole. These ratios of cold to hot excess deaths indicate a significant disparity in the number of excess deaths caused by cold weather compared to those caused by hot weather. This significant difference underscores the greater health risks and vulnerabilities associated with cold weather.

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  1. Melbourne Institute of Technology, 288 Latrobe Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia

    Alberto Boretti

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  1. Alberto Boretti
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Correspondence to Alberto Boretti.

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Boretti, A. Revisiting Masselot et al. (2023): assessing the share of excess mortality linked to cold and hot weather in Europe. Int J Biometeorol 68, 527–533 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-023-02598-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-023-02598-x

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