Heat’s Toll on Health

1 Introduction

Extreme heat events are becoming more common and more intense across the United States as global temperatures rise. This project examines how rising temperatures are harming people’s health and impacting healthcare systems. The objective is to understand if rising heat is leading to more hospitalizations and deaths, which age groups are getting hit hardest, and which parts of the country face the biggest risks.

The main questions we’re exploring are:

1. How have extreme heat events changed across U.S. regions from 2000 to 2023?
2. Is there a relationship between more heat events and health outcomes like hospitalizations, emergency visits, and deaths?
3. Which age groups and demographic groups are most at risk?