Excess Rate of In-Hospital Death in Lyons, France, during the August 2003 Heat Wave

To the Editor: We report descriptive data on mortality at the Edouard Herriot Hospital in Lyons, France, during the heat wave that lasted in France from August 1 to August 19, 2003. Figure 1 depicts the absolute daily number of in-hospital deaths during the summers of 2002 and 2003 and the corresponding maximal temperatures. During the heat wave, the average temperature was 35.7°C; it was 25.1°C during the same period in 2002. The Institut de Veille Sanitaire conducted a national survey between August 8 and August 19, 2003, to count the number of heat-related deaths, defined as exposure to hot weather, a . . .