Transcript:
As a pediatrician at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Taylor Merritt often sees kids struggling with heat illnesses.
Some have mild cramps, but others suffer from heat exhaustion, heat stroke, or even rhabdomyolysis, which causes muscle breakdown.
She says once, many members of the same youth football team came to the hospital together.
Merritt: “Some came to our emergency department, some were admitted on our hospital medicine floor, and then one even needed the intensive care unit.”
The experience inspired her to research if heat-related illnesses in children are becoming more common as the climate warms.
In a recent study, Merritt and her colleagues found that at two hospitals in Texas, the number of children coming into the ER with heat-related illnesses more than doubled between 2012 and 2023.
She says children are especially at risk from heat, in part because they’re less likely to take a break when they’re too hot.
To keep kids safe, outdoor activities can be limited to cooler parts of the day, and adults should monitor them for symptoms like dizziness or nausea.
And Merritt stresses the importance of drinking water.
Merritt: “Kids playing on the playground … athletes especially, need to be hydrating appropriately to help prevent this.”
Reporting credit: Ethan Freedman / ChavoBart Digital Media
