Mexico study’s surprising finding: Killer heat hit harder for the young than the elderly

AP Science Writer

A surprising study of temperature-related deaths in Mexico upends conventional thinking about what age group is hit hardest by heat. Friday’s study shows that at higher temperatures and humidity, heat kills far more young people under 35 than those older than 50. For decades, health and weather experts have warned that the elderly and the youngest children were most vulnerable in heat waves. But this study looking at all deaths in Mexico since 1998 shows that when it got uncomfortably hot and sticky, there were nearly 32 temperature-related deaths of people 35 years old for every temperature related death of someone 50 and older.