Even small swings in temperatures could put elderly people with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart failure and lung disease at greater risk of death throughout the coming summer, a new study indicates.

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston found temperature fluctuations related to climate change could claim thousands of lives every year.

Experts predict climate change could increase variations in summer temperatures, particularly in the mid-Atlantic states and in parts of France, Spain and Italy. In these more volatile regions, this could pose a serious public health risk, the study authors claimed.

‘The effect of temperature patterns on long-term mortality has not been clear to this point. We found that, independent of heat waves, high day-to-day variability in summer temperatures shortens life expectancy,’ study author Antonella Zanobetti, a senior research scientist in the department of environmental health at Harvard, said in a news release from the university. ‘This variability can be harmful for susceptible people.’

Using Medicare data from 1985 to 2006, the researchers tracked the long-term health of 3.7 million chronically ill people older than 65 living in 135 American cities. After considering each person’s individual risk factors, they determined if any of these people died due to […]