Key Points

• The region was affected by 3 of the 4 heat waves, and all departments were involved in at least one episode. The Var is the department in mainland France that experienced the most heat wave days, with a cumulative total of 23 days over the summer.

• Emergency room visits related to heatwaves were recorded throughout the summer. They increased rapidly and significantly as temperatures rose. As a result, nearly 2,800 emergency room visits related to heatwaves were recorded during the summer, 27% of which occurred during heatwave episodes. Two-thirds of emergency room visits related to heatwaves were followed by hospitalization. All age groups were affected, but people aged 75 and older were the hardest hit.

• Over the course of the summer, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) was the region most impacted in terms of mortality, with the highest heat-related mortality rate in France: nearly 5% of all-cause mortality during the summer, corresponding to more than 710 heat-related deaths.

• During heatwave periods, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur was one of the most affected regions after Corsica and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, on par with the Occitanie region, with 14% of all-cause mortality during these episodes attributable to heat (or nearly 450 deaths). More than two-thirds of heat-related deaths involved people aged 75 and older, whether over the entire summer or during heatwave episodes.

• The Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department was the most affected in terms of the proportion of heat-related deaths, whether over the entire summer or during heatwave periods.