This post summarizes key takeaways from the APHA 2025 workshop “Extreme Heat & Health: Clinical and Public Health Strategies for Prevention and Action.” It explains why extreme heat now causes more deaths in the U.S. than any other weather hazard, who is most at risk, how heat injures the body, and practical prevention strategies—ranging from personal cooling to community frameworks like BRACE—that health professionals and communities can deploy immediately.
Why extreme heat is the most lethal weather risk and why it’s getting worse
Extreme heat has overtaken other weather events as the leading cause of annual weather-related deaths in the United States. The trend is accelerating as global temperatures rise.
A 2024 JAMA analysis documented a steady climb in U.S. heat-related deaths from 1999 to 2023. There was a particularly sharp increase after 2016, underscoring an urgent public health challenge linked to climate change.
How heat harms the body and who pays the price
Heat stress exacerbates chronic cardiovascular and respiratory conditions and worsens mental health. As Dr. Logan Harper explained at the workshop, the physiological burden of heat can tip vulnerable patients into rapid decline.
Certain commonly used medications—such as diuretics, beta blockers, antihistamines, and some psychiatric drugs—can impair thermoregulation and hydration. This increases risk.
Clinical signs to recognize:
Who is most vulnerable and why targeted action matters
Vulnerability to extreme heat is not evenly distributed. Most heat-related illnesses and deaths are preventable if interventions target highest-risk groups and places.
Priority groups and hotspots
Higher-risk populations include:
Effective prevention: from personal precautions to community planning
Prevention requires both immediate, practical measures and longer-term planning. Clinicians and public health professionals can reduce harm by combining individual counseling with community-level heat action plans.
Practical, evidence-based steps
Personal and household actions:
Community and clinical strategies: Implement heat preparedness using the BRACE (Building Resilience Against Climate Effects) framework to assess risk and engage stakeholders. Build adaptive interventions such as cooling centers, heat-health warnings, occupational protections, and urban greening to reduce heat islands.
The role of health professionals: be a climate and health ambassador
Ben Fulgencio-Turner of ecoAmerica urged health professionals to use their trusted voices to elevate heat awareness and advocate for policies that protect public health from climate risks.
Clinicians are uniquely positioned to counsel patients and coordinate with public health systems.
They can push for structural solutions—like improved housing, heat-safe workplace policies, and expanded cooling access—that will save lives.
Immediate cooling and targeted outreach during heat events, paired with long-term resilience planning, can dramatically reduce the rising toll of heat-related illness and death.