Key Points

• A new heat wave has been affecting mainland France since July 29. The monitoring data presented in this bulletin covers the period from July 29 to August 10. During this period, 28% of the population of mainland France was affected by at least one day under an orange heat wave alert.
• The iCanicule indicators rose, peaking on July 29, and have remained high ever since.
• The number of emergency room visits across all age groups for the iCanicule indicator (hyperthermia/heatstroke, dehydration, and hyponatremia) peaked at 293 visits on July 29. This number fluctuated between 180 and 250 visits per day from July 30 to August 7, and between 150 and 200 since August 8. More than half of these visits involved people aged 75 and older.
• Hospitalizations following emergency room visits due to the heat wave peaked at 184 on July 29, remained high on July 30 and 31, dropped to 101 hospitalizations on August 2, and have since stabilized between 140 and 170.
• The number of SOS Médecins calls related to the iCanicule indicator increased on July 29 and 30 (49 and 53 calls, respectively) and then fluctuated between 21 and 50 calls from July 31 to August 10.
• All age groups are affected by these emergency care requests for the iCanicule indicator, particularly people aged 75 and older.
• The trends observed in healthcare utilization are consistent with temperature trends. These impacts underscore the importance of implementing prevention and adaptation measures for the entire population, based on weather forecasts, without waiting to observe actual impacts. As a reminder, impacts on morbidity do not allow us to predict mortality.