Heat stroke in hospital patients during the summer 2003 heat wave:: a nosocomial disease

Objective > We investigated patients who died in our institution during the August 2003 heat wave, to determine whether some in hospital patients actually died of heat stroke. Methods > Records of all patients who died in our tertiary care hos-pital between 6-15 August 2003 were analyzed retrospectively. Heat stroke was considered the cause of death when the following crite-ria were met: body temperature higher than 40.50 degrees C, except if there was documented evidence of cooling before the first temperature measurement, central nervous system abnormalities, and a reliable history of exposure to high temperatures in a hospital word. The number of patients who died in the hospital during the heat wove was compared with data from the previous year. Results > Seventeen patients died from hospital-acquired heat stroke (19% of all hospital deaths). This condition accounted for a 25% increase in hospital mortality over the some period during 2002. Comment > Hospital-acquired heat stroke appears to be a nosoco-miol disease that was responsible for on overall increase in hospital mortality during the 2003 heat wove.