Older adults are vulnerable in a warming climate. Better buildings could help protect them
In 2003, during Europe’s worst heat wave in centuries, almost 15,000 people died in France. About three-quarters of those deaths occurred indoors, and approximately 80% of the people who died were over 75, an age at which people tend to be less capable of perceiving heat and less well-equipped to adapt to it.
In the coming years of mounting climate change, people around the world — particularly older adults — are expected to be similarly vulnerable. But though scientists know a lot about heat, from how it can cause long-term organ damage and death to how some populations are more susceptible than others, they know less about how it impacts people indoors in their own homes.
