Temperature, Disease, and Death in London: Analyzing Weekly Data for the Century from 1866 to 1965

Using novel weekly mortality data for London spanning 1866-1965, we analyze the changing relationship between temperature and as city developed. Our main results show that warm weeks led to elevated in late nineteenth century, mainly due infant deaths from digestive diseases. However, this pattern largely disappeared after WWI diseases became less prevalent. The resulting change temperature-mortality meant thousands of heat-related deaths—equal 0.9-1.4 percent all deaths— were averted. These findings improving disease environment can dramatically alter impact high on mortality.