{"id":780005,"date":"2026-07-05T05:50:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T05:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/780005\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T05:50:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T05:50:34","slug":"climate-change-now-a-health-crisis-turkish-cardiologist-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/780005\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate change now a health crisis, Turkish cardiologist warns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Climate change has evolved from an environmental issue into a major public health crisis that directly threatens human health, a Turkish cardiologist warned Wednesday, as temperatures continue to rise across T\u00fcrkiye.<\/a><\/p>\n

Professor Mehmet Akbulut, a cardiology specialist at F\u0131rat University Hospital, said extreme heat is among the most visible and deadly consequences of climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the 1950s, there has been a significant increase in the frequency, intensity and duration of heat waves,\u201d Akbulut said. \u201cGlobally, nearly 17.5 million healthy life years are lost each year due to high temperatures alone. Europe, including T\u00fcrkiye, has become the fastest-warming continent in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite preventive efforts, more than 60,000 people in Europe died in 2022 because of extreme heat, he said, adding that climate change has become a sustained public health crisis.<\/p>\n

Akbulut said many of the health problems caused by extreme heat are linked to the cardiovascular system.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs temperatures rise, there is a clear increase in death and disease rates related to cardiovascular conditions,\u201d he said. \u201cStudies show that every 1-degree Celsius increase above local threshold levels raises cardiovascular deaths by 2.1%. This rate rises to 3.8% for strokes and 3.5% for acute coronary syndromes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the human body comes under serious physiological stress while trying to cope with heat. In hot weather, blood vessels expand, causing blood to pool in the periphery and forcing the heart to work harder.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn people with underlying cardiovascular disease, this can disrupt the balance between oxygen supply and demand, triggering serious conditions ranging from acute coronary syndrome to cardiogenic shock,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Akbulut also warned that insufficient fluid replacement after sweating increases the risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cA decrease in intravascular fluid volume increases the burden on the heart and negatively affects many organs, particularly the kidneys. This process may progress to multiple organ damage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that increased blood viscosity, systemic inflammation and a higher tendency for clotting also raise the risk of thrombotic events.<\/p>\n

Hot weather can also alter the effects of medication, Akbulut said. He noted that patients using antiplatelet therapy and beta blockers face a significantly higher risk of nonfatal heart attacks, with the risk rising by up to 75% when the drugs are used together. He said this effect is not limited to older adults and can also be seen in people aged 25 to 59.<\/p>\n

Akbulut said the impact of rising temperatures becomes even stronger when combined with air pollution.<\/p>\n

\u201cScientific studies have shown that on days when levels of fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide and ozone increase, deaths related to both cardiovascular and respiratory diseases also rise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Heat increases ozone formation, intensifying the toxic effects of pollutants, he said. Pollutants, in turn, disrupt the body\u2019s temperature-regulation mechanisms, creating a \u201cdouble blow\u201d to the heart.<\/p>\n

Akbulut said the risks are not distributed equally across society. People with lower socioeconomic status, limited access to health care and poor housing conditions face greater danger.<\/p>\n

He said these groups are more exposed to limited green space, higher air pollution and the urban heat island effect, adding that climate change combines with other environmental risks to increase cardiovascular vulnerability.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

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\n This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Climate change has evolved from an environmental issue into a major public health crisis that directly threatens human…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,68,137,500,22215],"class_list":["post-780005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-climate-change","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-heat-wave"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}