Key Takeaways

Extreme temperatures cause thousands of deaths each year

Two-thirds are cold-related, and the rest heat-related

Seniors, Black people and men were more likely to die from temperature extremes

TUESDAY, Nov. 18, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Cold snaps and heat waves have contributed to tens of thousands of deaths in the United States over the past quarter-century, a new study says.

More than 69,000 U.S. deaths occurred between 1999 and 2024 where extreme cold or heat were listed as an underlying or contributing cause, researchers reported Nov. 17 in the Annals of Internal Medicine .

That’s out of a total 69 million deaths — meaning that 1 in every 1,000 deaths were related to extreme cold or heat, researchers said.

“Our findings show that both heat and cold exposure conti

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