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Poverty more prevalent among those who died during B.C.’s heat dome: study
VANCOUVER — A study of British Columbia’s deadly heat dome in 2021 says the risk factor most strongly associated with dying during those sweltering days was whether that person was receiving income assistance.
The paper, by researchers at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control and published in Environment Research: Health, compared those who died with similar people who survived, focusing on health conditions and socioeconomic status.
A 2022 B.C. coroner’s report said 619 deaths were attributed to the heat event, and the latest research says the prevalence of low income was 2.4 times higher among the people who died compared with those who survived.
Temperatures soared for several days across much of British Columbia in late June 2021, reaching temperatures into the high 40s in some areas, while overnight temperatures remained uncharacteristically high.