Mortality by degrees

Temperature changes affect
the susceptibility of the aged
to death from coronary
artery disease, brain infarctioh (blood clot) and cerebra4 haemorrhage, suggests
a I I -year study by Thai
@cientists (Lancet Vol 345,
No 8946).

Researchers led by WenHarn Pan ofthe Institute of
Biomedical Sciences of
Academia Sinica, Taipei,
found that the mortality rate
among those over 64 years
was the lowest at 26-29' C
for coronary artery disease.
Deaths from cerebral infarction were the lowest at
27-29' c. Above and below
these temperatures, the
mortality rates among
the elderly showed an
increase.

Pan argues that the
"human body's ability to
adapt itselfto heat and
cold stresses in old age,
aggravates existing cardiovascular diseases and triggers events".