Older adults are especially susceptible because of challenges regulating body temperature, chronic conditions and medications. Heat waves can trigger deaths from heart attacks, Alzheimer’s disease complications, pneumonia and COPD, according to the experts. Some 27 percent of heat-related deaths (2010-2020) involved adults over age 65. According to the study, heat waves provoked nine extra deaths per 10,000 people each year, or 17,600 extra deaths in the contiguous United States during the 2000-2018 study period. The study suggests that climate change-triggered heat waves present a growing threat to public health, especially in high-poverty neighborhoods, which may have less green space.