Making it up as they go along

or are they? The BBC's Michelle Roberts - Health Reporter says this (my emphasis):

Climate change 'will increase heart deaths'

Many more people will die of heart problems as global warming continues, experts are warning.

Climate extremes of hot and cold will become more common and this will puts [sic] strain on people's hearts, doctors say.

Except it's not what the report says at all, the report says a 2.0% increase in heart attack risk is attributable only to 1C drops in temperature and even better it specifically says:

Conclusions Increases in risk of myocardial infarction at colder ambient temperatures may be one driver of cold related increases in overall mortality, but an increased risk of myocardial infarction at higher temperatures was not detected. The risk of myocardial infarction in vulnerable people might be reduced by the provision of targeted advice or other interventions, triggered by forecasts of lower temperature.

So the usual alarmist note is taken, so caught up is our intrepid reportrer in her assignation of anything that is available to that modern catch-all 'climate change' that she is either blithely ignoring the referenced article she is reporting on, or she is well aware that a guaranteed byline is available on surely the world's top alarmist source (sorry Guardian) if those two dog-whistle words are in the copy.

I wont blame her completely for this blatant misreporting of what the study says, she does, after all, manage to find an accompanying piece on the BMJ site 'Temperature changes and the risk of cardiac events' where Paola Michelozzi, head of environmental epidemiology unit, Manuela De Sario, epidemiologist manage to perform the heroic task of making sure anything bad that can happen manages to have some climate stakeholder claim.

Climate change is a concern in many regions of the world where extreme hot and cold temperatures may affect people with cardiovascular diseases and increase the incidence of coronary events. The impact may be greater in areas with inequalities in the access to medical services.1

In the linked study (doi:10.1136/bmj.c3823), Bhaskaran and colleagues assessed the effect of temperature on the risk of myocardial infarction and other acute coronary syndromes2; they performed a time series analysis across 15 conurbations in England and Wales using clinically confirmed hospital admissions data. They found that each 1°C reduction in daily mean temperature was associated with a 2.0% (95% CI 1.1% to 2.9%) cumulative increase in the risk of myocardial infarction for 28 days; the highest risk was within two weeks of exposure. They found no association at higher temperatures.

So fair does, she's parroting a line that's been parroted onto a report which had nothing at all to do with rising temperatures. But it's a nice insight into the mindset - people wont respond to articles about climate change that don't mention heat so make sure that heat is also bigged up and scare tactics applied.

Is there a point to this? I think there is. I don't think this is sloppy reporting, I think it's desperation to add a bogeyman onto any story, no matter how tenuous the link. I don't doubt that if climate change was instead a fear about fuel shortages the article would have been skewered accordingly. And, to me this is what is so wrong about the whole thing, the alarmist nature of so many of the scientific advocates, journalists and politicians points to a problem that no one knows the actual outcomes but have vested interests (research grants, tax increases, environmental political goals and selling copy) and so will always push the worst (or worse!) case scenarios.

Either that or they really think the report said 'hot and cold' temps will increase heart attack risk and they want us all to live in hermetically sealed, air conditioned (irony alert) rooms kept at a perfect temp for optimal heart performance.