How serious is this issue? How much is alarmism and hysteria? How easy is it to protect older individuals from heat exposure (e.g. staying more indoors etc.)?
A strong hint that this is more alarmism and hysteria than science is the use of junk climate model projections in this study to come up with "intolerable heat".
Notice here the switch again from "climate change" to global warming. Whenever it is convenient for propaganda?
Notice here also they provide only a relative temperature range and not an absolute temperature range when older individuals may suffer more! This may indicate e.g. that perhaps many older individuals are not that much affected by warmer outdoor temperatures.
The methodology may also be seriously flawed as they compare Little Ice Age temperatures with current warming period temperatures instead of e.g. Medieval Warming period temperatures! Plus they seem to have used junk climate model projections.
"Older people may face serious health risks from heat at much lower temperatures than previously understood, per new research from Stanford University.
Most previous studies applied heat limits for healthy young adults to all age groups—overlooking the vulnerability of older people.
The new research ... found that people ages 60 and up could “no longer maintain a stable core temperature”—the point at which the body’s biological cooling mechanisms become overwhelmed––at temps roughly 4.7–7.5 degrees Celsius and (40.46–45.5 degrees Fahrenheit) lower than young adults.
After accounting for ways that aging reduces heat tolerance, the number of people facing repeated, “uncompensable” heat exposure—a combination of heat and physical factors—as climates warm is two-to-eight-times higher than earlier studies estimated using young-adult thresholds for all ages.
Suggested solutions: Researchers say there is a need for targeted, age-specific action plans and warning systems to protect older people, ..."
"In short:
A new global study suggests older people may face serious health risks from heat at much lower temperatures than previously understood.
The study found the temperature at which people age 60 and older could "no longer maintain a stable core temperature" was roughly 4.7–7.5 degrees Celsius lower than for young adults. ..."
From the abstract:
"Background
In a warming world, understanding where, when, and to what extent human heat tolerance limits will be breached has become increasingly important.
Previous projections applied heat limits for healthy young adults to all age groups, overlooking greater vulnerability in older ages.
With global ageing, this oversight could seriously underestimate future heat risks. In this study, we aimed to examine the extent to which accounting for age-specific heat tolerance alters global projections of heat limit exceedances.
Methods
We integrated experimentally derived heat limits for young (18–39 years), middle-aged (40–59 years), and older adults (≥60 years) with climate projections [???] and age-stratified population projections to assess where and to what extent these limits could be breached across age groups under 1–4°C of global warming above preindustrial levels.
The climate projections [???] include bias-corrected projections of dry-bulb temperature and wet-bulb temperature from 14 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 climate models under the shared socioeconomic pathway 5-8·5 scenario. We also highlighted countries with high exposure risk and low adaptive capacity.
Findings
More widespread and imminent breaches of heat limits were estimated among older adult populations than among other populations.
Older adults faced more frequent and spatially extensive exceedances under the 1·5°C global warming scenario [???] relative to the preindustrial period than young adults did under 4°C. Using age-specific thresholds more than doubled the global population having 180 h or more of exceedance annually as compared with previous estimates.
Older adults in south Asia and the Persian Gulf could face sustained, day-and-night exposure for three consecutive months at 3°C or more warming.
We also identified 13 countries under 3°C global warming above the preindustrial period where poverty rates exceed 50% and either at least 10 million older adults or at least 80% of the older adult population experiences 180 h or more of heat limit exceedance annually.
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Niger exceed both the absolute (10 million older adults) and proportional (80% of older adults) exposure thresholds.
Interpretation
Our results suggest accounting for age stratified vulnerability, intolerable heat [???] will be experienced at much larger scales and for longer durations, affecting far more people than previously estimated.
By identifying who and where people are exposed, our findings can inform targeted heat action plans and guide resource allocation and response planning. ..."
People over 60 face heat exposure danger at lower temperatures, study suggests
When Heat Outpaces the Human Body: A Warming, Aging World at Risk "As the climate warms, understanding where, when, and to what extent human heat tolerance limits will be breached has become increasingly important—particularly for the elderly."
Figure 1 Spatial distribution of UHS [uncompensable heat stress] frequency across age groups and warming levels
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