The Nation - News from Dec. 23, 1988

The number of freezing deaths reported in the United States has more than doubled in a decade, possibly because of the nation’s homeless problem, the national Centers for Disease Control said. In 1985, the latest year for which complete statistics are available, 1,010 people died from exposure to the cold, a 137% increase from the 427 deaths reported in 1976, the CDC said. The vast majority of cold-exposure deaths are technically because of hypothermia--decreased body temperature, or freezing to death. Although more research remains to be done, the numbers strongly suggest that more and more Americans are dying from the cold, the CDC said. “It’s either increased cold . . . which is unlikely, or it’s more people exposed to more intense or more frequent stresses from the cold,” said CDC researcher Dr. Edwin Kilbourne.