This winter, the temperature often drops sharply due to cold winds. On the 24th, the last day of the Lunar New Year holiday, the "strongest cold wave" will come, so attention should be paid to cold diseases.
Cold disease is a disease in which cold weather directly causes damage to the human body. Hypothermia, frostbite, and alumni are typical.
Ten people have already died from the cold this winter. As a result of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's operation of the "Cold Disease Emergency Room Monitoring System" from December 1st last year to the 18th of this month, a total of 10 deaths from cold diseases were reported this season. All are believed to have died of hypothermia.
Of the estimated deaths, nine are elderly people aged 65 or older with underlying diseases. Special attention is needed as cold disease damage is great in the elderly during the cold wave.
The number of patients reported as cold diseases this season is 251, an increase of 34% compared to the same period last year. The most common disease is hypothermia, which accounts for 69% (174 patients). Bronze statues were followed by 27.8% (70), other 1.6% (four), and alumni 0.8% (two).
By age, 24.7% (62 people) were over 80 years old. Next, 17.9% (45) were in their 50s and 17.1% (43) were in their 60s.
The most common cold diseases occurred between 0 a.m. and 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. and 9 a.m., indicating that particular attention is needed in the early morning from the late night when the temperature is the lowest during the day.
Outdoors accounted for 76.1% of the places where cold diseases occurred, but 16.3% of the cases occurred at home.
A sudden cold wave reduces physical adaptability and makes you vulnerable to diseases, so thorough preparation for warmth is needed. In particular, the elderly and children are more vulnerable to maintaining body temperature than ordinary adults, so they should be more careful. People with chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure should avoid excessive external activities as blood pressure may rise sharply due to rapid temperature changes. If you drink alcohol, your body's heat rises and drops sharply, so you'd better avoid excessive drinking.
Writer: Stella Lim
(Piture from Unsplash)
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