Death in heat waves: ... and injudiciously opening windows

doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7425.1228-c

BMJ 2003;327:1228-1229 (22 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7425.1228-c

Letter

Death in heat waves

... and injudiciously opening windows

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—In his editorial on death in heat waves Keatingesurprisingly mentioned that a simple effective measure in protectingelderly people and others against heat is to open a window.¹

I live in London and at the height of the heat wave the temperatureoutside in the shade was 37°C. During the few days of theheat wave I maintained the inside of my home at a cool 27°Cby ensuring all windows and curtains were closed as soon asthe outside temperature was warmer than the inside temperature.In the evening, around 9 pm, the whole procedure was reversed.Once the temperatures outside were similar to those inside thehouse I would open all curtains and windows to cool down thehouse and ensure that this coolness was maintained for as longas possible for the following day.

Surely to open the windows when the outside temperature is . . . [Full text of this article]

Anne Pauleau, general practitioner

Essex Lodge Surgery, London E13 0AS zoe_wooster@hotmail.com