–155 CDC WONDER. ICD-9/E900, exposure to excessive natural heat, search, 9-2-2016.[1]

–104 Blanchard tally based on State breakouts below.

Summary of Fatalities by State (where noted)

Arizona 10

Arkansas 1

California 37

Florida 4

Georgia 10

Mississippi 10

Missouri ~5

North Carolina 3

Oklahoma 2

Texas 20

Virginia 2

Breakout of 1992 Heat Fatalities by States and Localities (where noted):

Arizona (10)

— 10 CDC WONDER. ICD-9/E900, exposure to excessive natural heat, search, 9-2-2016.

— 10 AZ DHS. Deaths from Exposure to Excessive Natural Heat…1992-2009. 2014, p. 17.[2]

Breakout by State or country of residence From Table 1, “Characteristics of deaths…”, p. 15.

–8 Arizona

–2 Other U.S. State or Canada

Geographic region of occurrence From Table 1, “Characteristics of deaths…”, p. 15.

–5 Border counties

–4 Central Arizona counties

–1 Northern Arizona counties

Gender From Table 1, “Characteristics of deaths…”, p. 15.

–4 Male

–6 Female

Race/Ethnicity From Table 1, “Characteristics of deaths…”, p. 15.

–6 White non-Hispanic

–3 Hispanic or Latino

–1 Black or African American

Age group From Table 1, “Characteristics of deaths…”, p. 15.

–1 15-19

–1 30-34

–1 50-54

–2 55-59

–1 65-69

–2 75-79

–1 85+

County of occurrence From Table 1, “Characteristics of deaths…”, p. 16.

–3 Maricopa

–1 Mohave

–2 Pima

–1 Pinal

–3 Yuma

Month of death From Table 1, “Characteristics of deaths…”, p. 16.

–1 April

–5 July

–4 August

Arkansas ( 1)

— 1 Little Rock, July 12. Infant found dead in bed in mobile home with inside temp. of 92°.[3]

California (37)

–37 CDC WONDER. ICD-9/E900, exposure to excessive natural heat, search, 9-2-2016.

— 2 Southern CA, Aug 13-20 Heat wave. NCDC Storm Data, Vol. 34, No. 8, Aug 1992, p. 52.

— 1 San Diego, Aug 14. Heatstroke; newly hired laborer, cutting/lifting/chipping tree parts.[4]

Florida ( 4)

–4 Statewide. Lushine. Lushine (NWS). “Underreporting of Heat…Related Deaths in Florida.”[5]

–1 Escambia Co., Pensacola, July 9. Heatstroke; construction worker in sun 5-6 hrs, heat index ~108°.[6]

Georgia (10)

–10 CDC WONDER. ICD-9/E900, exposure to excessive natural heat, search, 9-2-2016.

— 1 Muscogee County, Columbus, July 11. Excessive heat; male at home.[7]

Mississippi (10)

–10 CDC WONDER. ICD-9/E900, exposure to excessive natural heat, search, 9-2-2016.

Missouri (~5)

— ~5 MO DHSS. Data & Statistical Reports. Chart: “Hyperthermia Mortality, Missouri 1980-2013.”[8]

— 1 St. Louis City, July 13. Heat-related illness; female, 65.[9]

North Carolina ( 3)

— 3 Statewide. Mirabelli and Richardson. “Heat-Related Fatalities in North Carolina.”[10]

Oklahoma ( 2)

–2 Garwe (OK Dept Health). “Heat-Related Deaths, Oklahoma, 1990-2001,” 5-31-2002, p.1.[11]

Texas (20)

–20 CDC WONDER. ICD-9/E900, exposure to excessive natural heat, search, 9-2-2016.

Virginia ( 2)

— 1 Norfolk, July 11. Heatstroke; female; outdoor temperatures reached 97 degrees.[12]

— 1 Norfolk, July 15. Heat exposure; male; temperatures reached 99 degrees.[13]

Sources

Arizona Department of Health Services (Christopher K. Mrela and Clare Torres). Deaths from Exposure to Excessive Natural Heat Occurring in Arizona 1992-2009. AZ DHS, March 2010, 5-12-2014 modification. Accessed 9-1-2015: http://www.azdhs.gov/plan/report/im/heat/heat09.pdf

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Compressed Mortality File 1979-1998 (ICD-9/E900, exposure to excessive natural heat, search. CDC WONDER On-line Database, compiled from Compressed Mortality File CMF 1968-1988, Series 20, No. 2A, 2000 and CMF 1989-1998, Series 20, No. 2E, 2003. Accessed at http://wonder.cdc.gov/cmf-icd9.html on Sep 2, 2016 4:50:23 PM

Garwe, Tabitha, M.P.H., (Epidemiologist, Injury Prevention Service, OK DPH). “Heat-Related Deaths, Oklahoma, 1990-2001.” Oklahoma City, OK: Oklahoma State Department of Health, 5-31-2002. Accessed 11-8-2015 at: http://www.ok.gov/health2/documents/Heat_Deaths_1990-2001.pdf

Lushine, James B. “Underreporting of Heat and Cold Related Deaths in Florida.” Miami, FL: National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office, NOAA. 1-6-2009 modification. Accessed 11-1-2015 at: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mfl/?n=fla_weather_casualties

Mirabelli, Maria C. and David B. Richardson. “Heat-Related Fatalities in North Carolina.” American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 95, No. 4, April 2005, pp. 635-637. Accessed 9-2-2015 at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1449233/

Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services. Data & Statistical Reports. Chart: “Hyperthermia Mortality, Missouri 1980-2013.” DHSS. Accessed 11-19-2015 at: http://health.mo.gov/living/healthcondiseases/hyperthermia/data.php

National Climatic Data Center. Storm Data, Vol. 34, No. 6, June 1992, p. 19. Asheville, NC: NCDC, NOAA. Accessed 4-10-2016 at: http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/orders/IPS/IPS-52BF09A3-ADAC-43E6-8E0E-2D24193D27AC.pdf

National Climatic Data Center. Storm Data, Vol. 34, No. 7, July 1992, p. 19. Asheville, NC: NCDC, NOAA. Accessed 4-10-2016 at: http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/orders/IPS/IPS-AEAFA3D2-0F8C-412A-A9CB-9D7445D9554C.pdf

National Climatic Data Center. Storm Data, Vol. 34, No. 8, Aug 1992, p. 19. Asheville, NC: NCDC, NOAA. Accessed 4-10-2016 at: http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/orders/IPS/IPS-D56CD499-BB80-4F6A-9AD7-2E9E5C13C06E.pdf

Occupational Safety & Health Administration. Fatality and Catastrophe Investigation Summaries [1993]. “Inspection: 112010822 – Daley Corp.” Accessed 4-11-2016 at: https://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=112010822

[1] CDC-Wonder results relate only to cases where hyperthermia was coded ICD-9/E900 as primary (direct) cause of death by a medical examiner on a death certificate. “Heat-related” deaths are viewed as those where heat was an indirect or contributing cause of death, and are not included. Even with what we would view as a direct E900.0 heat death we know that sometimes such deaths are coded as something else – such as a dehydration in the case of a child left in a hot car, or heart-failure brought on by a heat stroke, and thus do not show up in a exposure to excessive heat query. Also, CDC WONDER suppresses (does not show) fatality numbers in a State where the loss of life is less than 10, though presumably these figures are in the U.S. total. Notes population of 256,606,463.

[2] “Data on the number and characteristics of deaths from heat due to weather conditions were obtained from the mortality database containing information from the death certificates filed with the Arizona Department of Health Services….In addition to death certificates where exposure to excessive natural heat was indicated as the underlying cause of death, heatstroke or sunstroke may be reported on death certificates as contributing factors that had a bearing on the death, but were not its underlying cause. For example, heatstroke and sunstroke were mentioned in…Arizona death certificates where atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease…, respiratory disease…, diabetes…, or drug overdose/alcohol intoxication…were reported as the underlying cause of death. Those heat-related deaths are beyond the scope of this report.” (p. 1)

[3] National Climatic Data Center, NOAA. Storm Data, Vol. 34, No. 7, July 1992, p. 19.

[4] OSHA. “Inspection: 112010822 – Daley Corp.” Accident Investigation Summary notes “Both the temperature and humidity were abnormally high and had been for the previous six days. Employee…fainted, suffering from a heat-related disorder. Approximately 30 minutes passed before trained first aid personnel arrived. Employee…died. A strict work-rest regimen had not been specified or adhered to, the coworker who responded to the emergency had not been trained in first aid, and a trained supervisor was not present. The delay in calling for an ambulance can be attributed to the poor judgment of the inadequately trained coworker giving first aid, the distance of a supervisor, and the lack of clear communication about job site responsibilities.”

[5] Figure 3, “Annual Temperature Deaths, Florida, 1979-1999. [Note: Figure 3 is a chart which shows heat deaths in one color and cold deaths in another on the same horizontal bar for each year. The fatality range shown on the left of the chart is in increments of five, going up to thirty. The bars for each year are shown diagonally and do not show any numbers. This does not make them readily readable. Thus one has to measure with a ruler the bar showing the lowest combined deaths (1979), which appears to show one cold death and one heat death. With the unit of measurement of one death then measured against the heat portion of all the other bars, one can get an approximation of the heat deaths for each year. I say “approximate” in that by this method we counted 133 heat deaths over the 21-year period included in the graph, whereas the text of the article notes that there were 125. Repetitious measurement attempts gave us the same result. The article notes that the data came from death certificates collected by the Public Health Statistics Section, Office of Vital Statistics, Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services.]

[6] National Climatic Data Center, NOAA. Storm Data, Vol. 34, No. 7, July 1992, p. 32.

[7] National Climatic Data Center, NOAA. Storm Data, Vol. 34, No. 7, July 1992, p. 48.

[8] Note “about” 5 deaths in that chart plots fatalities by increments of 10 on the left axis and years along the bottom, with a line connecting dots. Takes interpretation, even with enlargement.

[9] National Climatic Data Center, NOAA. Storm Data, Vol. 34, No. 7, July 1992, p. 141.

[10] American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 95, No. 4, April 2005, pp. 635-637, Figure 1.

[11] From Figure 1. “Heat-Related Deaths by Year, Oklahoma, 1990-2001.” Deaths in Figure 1 are denoted by a horizontal bar, against backdrop of horizontal lines in increments of five. The precise number of deaths is not given, thus one has to make an educated guess in looking at the Figure and contrasting one bar against others.

[12] National Climatic Data Center, NOAA. Storm Data, Vol. 34, No. 7, July 1992, p. 250.

[13] National Climatic Data Center, NOAA. Storm Data, Vol. 34, No. 7, July 1992, p. 251.

1992 — July-Aug (especially), Heat; especially CA/37, TX/20, AZ, GA, MS 10 each — 155