“At least 60 excess deaths” during the heatwave in early September, according to Public Health France

At least sixty more deaths than normal were recorded in France during the heatwave which hit seventeen departments from September 3 to 11, according to estimates from the French Public Health agency published Wednesday October 4, a toll that remains at consolidate. “At least sixty excess deaths from all causes (2.2%) were estimated during this heatwave in the departments concerned,” the health agency wrote in a press release.

This episode of late heat, exceptional in its intensity and duration according to Météo-France, affected nearly 30% of the metropolitan population, in seventeen departments in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Brittany and Centre-Val de Loire regions. , Normandy, Pays de la Loire, Hauts-de-France, Ile-de-France and New Aquitaine.

A phenomenon whose frequency is amplified by global warming, a heatwave is defined by a period of prolonged heat without interruption for several days. The impacts on mortality vary according to the departments due in particular to the duration (number of days in a heatwave) and the intensity (temperatures) of the episode, but also the period of occurrence and the type of population affected.

No fatal work accident was notified by the General Directorate of Labor to Public Health France for this fourth heatwave episode, the health agency further clarified.

Almost 400 more deaths in August

During the first heatwave of the summer (July 7 to 13), at least eighty deaths from all causes were estimated in France, during the second (July 17 to 26), at least thirty, and during the from the third (August 11 to 26), almost four hundred more than normal.

These estimates are still preliminary in several respects. They are based, for example, on mortality data which is not yet complete. Above all, they do not accurately assess deaths directly due to heatwaves. For the moment, they only show to what extent the total number of deaths exceeded normal during this period.

In the fall, Public Health France will publish a consolidated assessment of the health impact of the various heatwaves and more generally of the exposure of the French population to extreme heat throughout the summer period of 2023.

Heat in summer, including outside heatwave periods, caused the death of 30,000 to 35,000 people in France between 2014 and 2022, according to a previous study by the health agency. Europe is the continent experiencing the greatest warming, up to 1 degree warmer than the global average.