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According to new research in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, experts reveal that extreme temperatures during heat waves and bitter cold spells can increase the risk of premature death by cardiovascular disease.

A person diagnosed with CVD has a decreased average life expectancy when they are exposed to extreme temperatures; this is a great cause for concern considering the Earth's alarming changes in climate coupled with growing trends of obesity.

"With increasing rates of obesity and related conditions, including diabetes, more people will be vulnerable to extreme temperatures and that could increase the future disease burden of extreme temperatures," Cunrui Huang, M.Med., M.S.P.H., the study's lead researcher and a Ph.D. scholar at the School of Public Health and Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia.

Previous studies illustrate that dramatic temperatures can trigger changes in blood pressure, blood thickness, cholesterol and heart rate.

According to a data collected on daily temperatures in Brisbane Australia where the summers are hot and human with sudden drops to 68.9 degrees and the winters were reported to be 53 to 11 degrees, researchers found that per 1 million people with CVD, 72 years of life were lost per day researchers said.

Adrian G. Barnett, Ph.D., co-author of the study and associate professor of biostatistics at QUT notes that people should "take better protective actions during prolonged cold weather, which might be why we did not find as great a risk of CVD during cold spells."

Spending a few hours daily in a temperate environment can help reduce heat- and cold-related illnesses and deaths, Barnett said.