[Epidemiology and heat waves: analysis of the 2003 episode in France].

Epidemiology and heat waves: analysis of the 2003 episode in France. The heat wave that struck France in 2003 has been accompanied with an estimated 15,000 excess deaths. This paper stresses the difficulties of the epidemiology of such an event. The relevant clinical and biological information is incomplete or even inaccessible and many of the deaths are due to multiple factors. The data presently available indicate that the deaths occurred in persons already vulnerable, and that the heat wave caused a five- to eight-month loss of lifetime for the affected individuals. There is a noteworthy similarity between the profiles of this exceptional summer mortality surge, and those of many past winters when similar or larger excess mortalities ave occurred without as yet eliciting much public attention.