WORRY OVER HYPOTHERMIA

Description

INCREASING numbers of Victorian pensioners anxious about turning on the heating are being treated for hypothermia in a "concerning" trend that has alarmed authorities. The sad finding was contained in a study of 217 hypothermic emergencypresentations between July 2009 and September 2016 to Alfred Health prompted by a record-breaking cold winter in 2015. Itfound more than half of the patients who presented to a hospital with hypothermia lived alone and had few social supports,while almost threequarters were on a pension.