Nearly a quarter of the global population of older adults at mid-century could face extreme heat, putting their health in danger.

By 2050, as many as an additional 246 million adults age 69 and older could experience temperature extremes that exceed 37.5° Celsius, (99°F) researchers report May 14 in Nature Communications. The new projection suggests that more than 23 percent of the global population of these older adults — largely concentrated in Africa and Asia — will encounter this intense heat, compared with 14 percent today.

“Protecting our older population will be increasingly critical in the years to come,” says cardiologist-epidemiologist Andrew Chang of Stanford University and the University of California, San Fransisco, who was not involved with the research. “Older adults can be exquisitely vulnerable to the impacts […]