Cold-Related Illness In An Era Of Extreme Climate Events: US Trends, 1998–2022

Cold-related illnesses (CRIs) are preventable yet often deadly. Using twenty-five years of data from the National Inpatient Sample (1998–2022), we assessed nationwide trends in CRI hospitalizations and concomitant alcohol use, substance use, and mental health disorders and housing insecurity. We identified 345,314 (weighted) CRI hospitalizations and found that age- and sex-adjusted rates tripled from 42.0 to 122.5 per 100,000 hospitalizations. CRI inpatients were more likely than others to die during hospitalization, live in high-poverty ZIP codes, be publicly insured or uninsured, and have behavioral health conditions and housing instability. These findings highlight the rising and unequal toll of CRIs in the context of social instability and increasingly severe cold events associated with climate change. Expanded access to behavioral health treatments, increased subsidies for home heating, investments in affordable and supportive housing and shelter capacity, and public health measures to increase resilience to extreme weather events could reduce CRI morbidity and mortality.