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heat stroke
Sign in to saveAlso known as sunstroke, heliosis, insolation, Sunstroke, siriasis, sun-stroke, heatstroke
failure of the body to dissipate heat in an excessively hot environment, or during physical exertion
Heat stroke occurs when your body can't get rid of heat fast enough in very hot conditions or during intense physical activity, causing your core temperature to rise dangerously. It matters because this condition can cause serious injury or death if not treated quickly.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Research
5,001 papers- Heat stroke: Pathogenesis, diagnosis, and current treatment.ReviewAgeing research reviews · 2024Zhang Z, Wu X, Zou Z et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.arr.2024.102409
- Heat stroke.ReviewThe New England journal of medicine · 2002Bouchama A, Knochel JPDOI: 10.1056/NEJMra011089
- The pathogenesis and therapeutic strategies of heat stroke-induced liver injury.ReviewCritical care (London, England) · 2022Wang F, Zhang Y, Li J et al.DOI: 10.1186/s13054-022-04273-w
- Heat-Related Illnesses.ReviewAnnals of internal medicine · 2025O'Connor FGDOI: 10.7326/ANNALS-25-01958
- Heat-Related Illnesses.ReviewAmerican family physician · 2019Gauer R, Meyers BK
- Heat stroke.Southern medical journal · 2002Hamdy RCDOI: 10.1097/00007611-200208000-00001
- Heat Stroke.JAMA · 2017Peiris AN, Jaroudi S, Noor RDOI: 10.1001/jama.2017.18780
- Heat stroke-induced central nervous system injury: Mechanisms and therapeutic perspectives.ReviewJournal of thermal biology · 2025Yang W, Gao Z, Wang C et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2025.104263
via PubMed
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- heat illness
- Subclass of
- heat illness
- Image
- The British Army in the Middle East 1943 E26027.jpg
Show 10 more facts
- health specialty
- emergency medicine
- described by source
- Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary
- Commons category
- Heat stroke
- possible treatment
- symptomatic treatment
- symptoms and signs
- nausea
- has cause
- body temperature
- risk factor
- humidity
- facet of
- body temperature
- has effect
- organ dysfunction
- partially coincident with
- heat exhaustion
Sources (7)
via Wikidata · CC0
~15 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Heat stroke or heatstroke, also known as sun-stroke, is a severe heat illness that results in a body temperature greater than 40.0 °C (104.0 °F), along with red skin, headache, dizziness, and confusion. Sweating is generally present in exertional heatstroke, but not in classic heatstroke. The start of heat stroke can be sudden or gradual. Heatstroke is a life-threatening condition due to the potential for multi-organ dysfunction, with typical complications including seizures, rhabdomyolysis, or kidney failure.
Heat stroke occurs because of high external temperatures and/or physical exertion. It usually occurs under preventable prolonged exposure to extreme environmental or exertional heat. However, certain health conditions can increase the risk of heat stroke, and patients, especially children, with certain genetic predispositions are vulnerable to heatstroke under relatively mild conditions.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “heat stroke” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.