Extreme heat due to climate crisis puts people at greater risk of kidney disease

Researchers are finding heat-related illnesses can also contribute to heart disease and cognitive impairment

At a dialysis center in Atlanta, Lauren Kasper tended to patients resting in hospital beds, some too sick to be transferred to a chair. Many arrived in wheelchairs or walked with canes, their bodies weakened from kidney disease.

As she hooked them up to dialysis machines, Kasper, a nurse practitioner, was struck by how young many of her patients were.

“The majority of the patients that you would see in a typical outpatient center are 60-plus,” she said. “With these patients, some of them were in their 20s and their 30s, 40s. The fact that they were a really significant portion of the population was really startling.”

In 2022, Kasper co-authored a study on the work histories of these patients. Many had labored in landscaping, roofing or agriculture, where they were exposed to harsh chemicals and extreme heat. The study suggested that, in a warming climate, people working in heat-stressed environments may be at even greater risk of kidney disease.