Deaths in the Chicago Heat Wave

To the Editor: From the report by Semenza et al. 1 and the accompanying editorial by Kellermann and Todd 2 on the risks associated with heat waves (July 11 issue), it seems that the vocabulary of risk factors has shifted over the past 15 years. When a similar report was published after the July 1980 heat wave in St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, the researchers identified nonwhite race and poverty as significant risk factors for heat-related death. 3 In 1996, Semenza et al. identify social isolation as a risk factor. Although the labels have changed, the risk groups seem largely the same. . . .