Children ‘are not little adults’—they have more trouble regulating temperature than adults do
After more than a week of record-breaking temperatures across much of the country, public health experts are cautioning that children are more susceptible to heat illness than adults are — even more so when they’re on the athletic field, living without air conditioning, or waiting in a parked car.
Jan Null, a meteorologist in California, recalled being surprised at the effect of heat in a car. It was 86 degrees on a July afternoon more than two decades ago when an infant in San Jose was forgotten in a parked car and died of heatstroke.Null’s research with two emergency doctors at Stanford University eventually produced a startling answer. Within an hour, the temperature in that car could have exceeded 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
Infants and younger children also have more trouble regulating their body temperature, in part because they often don’t recognize when they should drink more water or remove clothing to cool down. A 1995 study showed that young children who spent 30 minutes in a 95-degree room saw their core temperatures rise significantly higher and faster than their mothers’ — even though they sweat more than adults do relative to their size.
“You’re gradually increasing that intensity over a week to two weeks so your body can get used to the heat,” said Kathy Dieringer, president of NATA. Although children’s deaths in parked cars have been well documented, the tragic incidents continue to occur. According to federal statistics, 23 children died of vehicular heatstroke in 2021. Null, who collects his own data, said 13 children have died so far this year.
A Lopsided Risk People living in low-income areas fare worse when temperatures climb. Access to air conditioning, which includes the ability to afford the electricity bill, is a serious health concern. This month, Bernstein, who leads Harvard’s Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, co-authored a commentary in JAMA arguing that advancing health equity is critical to action on climate change.
Helping people better understand the health risks of extreme heat and how to protect themselves and their families are among the public health system’s major challenges, experts said.
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