PHOENIX — Last year, Arizona saw the most heat-related deaths on record, with nearly 1,000 people dying, according to recent data from Arizona health officials.
But those numbers are too low, researchers found, concluding that more Americans died from heat-related illnesses in 2023 than in any other year.
In Arizona, ABC15 investigators learned that there is no standardized method for counting deaths across the state.
The Arizona Department of Health Services recently completed its heat-related mortality report, which reports 990 heat-related deaths in 2023, most of them occurring between May and September.
The report was only completed this month:
Earlier this year, Arizona’s governor created a preparedness plan that includes short- and long-term recommendations for extreme heat. As part of that vision, Governor Katie Hobbs appointed the state’s first heat officer to lead the response.
“The Governor’s Extreme Heat Preparedness Plan was created to address these tragic deaths,” said a spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Health Services. “Over the past year, more than 150 partners across the state have collected data to better understand who is most at risk for heat illness and what actions would be most effective.”
Throughout Arizona, every county is required to report heat-related deaths to state health officials, but deaths are recorded differently from county to county.
“The way that they report can vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction,” said Dr. Eugene Livar, the state’s top heat official. “There are general state guidelines because those are not the only death data that are reported.”
In Maricopa County, where 65% of heat-related deaths occurred in 2023, county health officials release weekly reports showing the number of confirmed and investigated deaths.
The data includes deaths by age, zip code and whether the person died indoors or outdoors.
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ABC15 asked Livar if heat deaths are underreported in our state.
“We say in public health: If you seek, you will find, don’t we?” he replied.
“I think one of the tasks is to raise awareness and let people know what they need to do and how to report it,” Livar said. “It’s possible that there’s under-reporting in that regard.”
According to Livar, there is a need for a standardized approach to reporting heat-related deaths.
ABC15 Investigator Nicole Grigg asked Livar whether health officials had considered using a form from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that collects data on heat-related deaths.
The supplemental investigative report, “HEAT,” would allow officials to trace data from the scene of the death to circumstances that might play a role, such as whether or not the power was on.
“I’m so glad you brought that up,” Livar said. “That’s one of the things we include in our conversations with health officials and medical boards, coroners and in these intake meetings, and we’ve presented that to them as an example of detailed data that can be sought and identified in these cases to keep us better informed from year to year.”
His office has held meetings with public health officials and coroners to gather feedback on whether there is a standardized or acceptable approach to reporting heat-related deaths across the state going forward.
“We only got our unified plan for the state of Arizona in March, and we know we won’t be able to solve all of the problems related to heat-related deaths and heat-related illnesses in six to nine months,” Livar said.
Livar adds that there is a need for more detailed data.
The Arizona Department of Health Services does not have real-time data on the number of deaths across the state. Instead, heat-related illnesses are tracked based on emergency room visits.
So far, 150 people have died in Maricopa County, Arizona’s largest county, and 443 cases are under investigation.
