A new study by the Madrid-based Foundation for Climate Research, the University of Valencia and the Institute of Environmental Assessment in Barcelona has estimated that 190 people have died from heat-related conditions in the Balearic Islands this summer.
While the number of reported deaths from heat stroke is low, with two workers and a hiker being the only reported cases in Majorca so far this year, researchers believe that this figure could potentially be higher given the difficulty for medical professionals to certify a death as being definitively heat related.
One of the researchers, Dominic Royé, told Majorca Daily Bulletin that the data underpinning the figures derives from daily mortality data (MOMO) and weather agency temperatures, an application that he described as “a state-of-the-art statistical model widely used in environmental health studies”.
Royé cited houses without air conditioning, prolonged exposure to high temperatures and age as currently being the main factors that can lead to heat-related deaths.
On the other hand, in the coming years, he warned, one in five heat-related deaths could be attributed to an ageing population.
MOMO estimated there have been 19 deaths in the Balearics so far this year linked to high temperatures. However, researchers believe that setting 35C as the threshold for extreme heat for making this estimate is too high.
The Balearic Islands remain a popular holiday destination for UK travellers, despite a host of anti-tourist protests taking place in some hotspots during the summer.
The protests don’t seem to have put tourists off visiting the archipelago and Royé has advice for anybody heading to the islands for their summer holidays.
Royé believes that more awareness needs to be drawn to measures that members of the public can take to protect themselves from heat, even when temperatures do not meet the threshold to be classed as an extreme heat event.
Measures such as drinking plenty of water, staying in cool places, reducing outdoor physical activity and wearing light clothing can all be taken to reduce susceptibility to heat-related illness.
In the UK, the NHS website lists the symptoms of heat exhaustion as including tiredness, dizziness, headaches and sickness. It advises that those showing signs of heat exhaustion need to be cooled down and given fluids.
