Lending Tree, the financial services company, analyzed data on emergency room visits for heat-related illnesses compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC gets this data through its National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP) and publishes detailed findings on its Heat & Health Tracker.
In 2023, the CDC recorded nearly 120,000 heat-related ER visits, a substantial increase from previous years. From June to August 2024, 286.3 Americans per 100,000 ED visits went for heat-related conditions — a 41.4% increase from summer 2020, according to the data.
The report shows an alarming rise in serious health issues linked to heat waves like those that have hit our region this summer, which have resulted in an increase in emergency room visits.
The data shows:
Indigenous communities faced a 76% jump in ER visits.
In Idaho, ER visits were up by 76 percent.
In New Mexico, ER visits were up by 61 percent.
In Nevada, ER visits were up by 59 percent.
In Colorado / Utah / Wyoming, were up by 57 percent.
“Socially vulnerable” people tend to have the most ER visits, Lending Tree Analyst Divya Sangameshwar said.
The guidelines for determining “social vulnerability” are based on 2022 data from the U.S. Census’ Community Resilience Estimates for Heat, a metric used to determine how vulnerable neighborhoods are to the impacts of disasters. Having at least three risk factors means a resident is socially vulnerable.
“This category represents people who are facing poverty, people who work in outdoor jobs that are exposed to extreme heat, people who are above the age of 65 and people who have chronic illnesses that are worsened by extreme heat,” she said.
In the Mountain West, New Mexico has the highest percentage of residents considered “socially vulnerable” to extreme heat, with 32.7% at risk. That’s the second-highest ratio in the nation, behind only Alaska (37.9%).
Utah had the lowest percentage of “socially vulnerable” residents, at 18.3%.
Extreme heat tends to be overlooked because it is less visible than a flood or hurricane, said Sangameshwar. But heat can be as dangerous as natural disasters, if not more so.
“You face drought and wildfire risk from extreme heat,” she said. But at the same time because of excess power consumption, you may also face blackouts from extreme heat and that puts you at risk.”
