Trends in the number of heatstroke patients in Japan and comparison by age ( 2019-2023)

AtopHeatstroke occurs when the body’s thermoregulation system stops working properly due to being in a hot and humid environment for a long period of time, causing heat to build up in the body .

It can occur not only outdoors but also indoors, even when the patient is doing nothing, and the patient may be taken to the hospital by ambulance, and in some cases, may die .

In recent years, scorching heat has become commonplace in Japanese summers, and according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, this summer is also expected to be as hot as a disaster.

Therefore, we compared the data collected by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications with the annual trends in heatstroke patients at MDV, and compared the number of patients by age.

we compared the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Fire and Disaster Management Agency’s “Total number of emergency transports due to heat stroke from May to September 2019 to 2023” with the actual number of heat stroke patients in the MDV data (8844801: Number of heat stroke patients ).

Blue line graph/Fire and Disaster Management Agency, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Nationwide patient number data created by our company based on ” Summary of total number of emergency transports due to heat stroke in 2023 (May to September) “
Red line graph/MDV data
Data period: 2019-2023, May-September
Only hospitals with complete data for the specified month
Number of facilities that meet basic requirements: 366

Both sets of data show a decrease in the number of heatstroke patients from 2020 to 2021 , possibly due to restrictions on going out and activities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic . However, since 2022, after the infection subsided, the number of patients has been increasing year by year.

Next, we looked at the trends in MDV and the number of patients by age group according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications over the five-year period (January 2019 to December 2023).

Age rating
[Young people] Those aged 7 to 18 years old
[Adult] Anyone aged 18 or older and under 65
[Elderly] People aged 65 or older

Graph/Fire and Disaster Management Agency, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications ” Overview of emergency transports due to heat stroke in 2023 (May to September) ” Nationwide patient number data created by our company based on the report

Data period: January 2019 to December 2023
Only hospitals with complete data for the specified month (inpatients )
Number of facilities that meet basic requirements: 366

Additionally, we used MDV data to calculate the proportion of hospitalized patients by age group.

Data period: January 2019 to December 2023
Only hospitals with complete data for the specified month
Number of facilities that meet basic requirements: 366

Both the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and the MDV data showed that the older the person, the more likely they were to suffer from heatstroke.
also showed that elderly people were significantly more likely to be hospitalized due to heatstroke than other age groups.

【reference】
Information and resource site for heatstroke prevention | Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (mhlw.go.jp)
heatstroke_nenpou_r5.pdf (fdma.go.jp)

Note: This article was published on August 1, 2024.