A new study has revealed that a large number of heat-related deaths across the globe are directly attributable to man-made climate changes.

The data, which was put together by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and published in the Nature Climate Change journal found that 37 per cent of all heat-related deaths could be blamed on human activity.

Extreme temperatures and wild weather can cause serious health complications for those who suffer from conditions such as asthma, and heatwaves also affect elderly people according to the report.

The study also found that those living in southern and western Asia and south-east Asia were more likely to be affected, with more than 50 per cent of deaths in those regions caused by climate change related temperature rises.

Speaking in The Guardian, Professor Antonio Gasparrini, one of the senior authors of the report said: “It’s a kind of call to action to prevent or try to attenuate potential effects which, of course, will be much higher in the future as long as global warming goes on. The main message is … you don’t have to wait until 2050 to see increases in heat-related deaths.”

The study looked at data between 1991 and 2018, focusing on 700 sites in 43 different countries and its overall finding was that ‘increased mortality is evident on every continent.’ It found that on average 9,700 people a year had died at the sites due to global warming. Sao Paulo in Brazil has the most climate-related heat deaths, averaging 239 a year according to the research.