AIHW 'Let's talk about the weather' report warns of heat risk

Extreme heat was responsible for the majority of weather-related injuries between 2012 and 2022 and accounted for more than 7,000 hospitalisations and almost 300 deaths.

"Evidence has shown that over the past three decades, there has been an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, such as extreme heat, bushfires, extreme cold, rain and storm-related events including high rainfall, floods and cyclones," AIHW spokesperson Dr Heather Swanston said.

"We are seeing this reflected in hospitalisations and deaths," she said.

Extreme heat often occurs during a heatwave which is defined as "three or more days in a row when both daytime and night-time temperatures are unusually high" by the Bureau of Meteorology.

Symptoms resulting from exposure to extreme or prolonged heat range from mild heat stroke to death.

Heat was also associated with increased likelihood of assault and drowning as well as common injuries from bushfires including smoke inhalation and burns.

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Heatwave deaths have been concentrated in Victoria and South Australia since 2000.

People 65 years and older were the most commonly hospitalised group in data from 2019 to 2020 and 2021 to 2022. The next most affected group were aged 25 to 44-years-old.

Men were more likely to be hospitalised than women in all age groups.

The trend was particularly notable in groups aged 25 to 44 years and those aged 45 to 64 years with twice as many men were hospitalised as women.

Victoria experienced a scorching heatwave from January 14 to 17, 2014. Average temperatures reached 43.1 degrees celsius in that 4-day period. Melbourne topped 43.9 degrees celsius on January 17, 2014.

Ambulance Victoria reported its caseload increased by a quarter during the heatwave in metropolitan areas and the state recorded 167 more deaths than expected.

Emergency departments recorded 621 patients presenting with heat-related issues and 40 per cent of patients were aged 75 years or older.

The report recommends health systems receive alerts from weather surveillance systems using real time local data as extreme heatwaves are identified.