A new study from the researchers from the Columbia University‘s Mailman School of Public Health has debunked the previous assumption that increased global warming will reduce the number of winter-related deaths around the globe.

The researchers opined that there were other non-temperature factors that are causing excessive numbers of deaths during winters, after assessing daily temperature and mortality data from each city.

Then they compared the number of deaths that occurred in cities that are colder in winter months with those that occurred in cities that are warmer in winter.

They found that different non-temperature related elements trigger extra deaths which might be occurring in the course of the winter.

While Kinney and company sought to prove or debunk the belief that cold weather increases winter deaths, the team kept its work in perspective and spoke of the broader implications of such a research.

US winters cause severe health problems to the senior citizens and can also lead to an increased risk of developing influenza and respiratory infection.

Patrick Kinney, the study’s lead author and a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University, said that he has been hearing people saying that global warming will reduce winter deaths. However, he said, “When older people mix with the younger generations of their families, they come into contact with all the bugs that the kids have brought home from school”.

In a separate research, NOAA scientists revealed that the average global temperature from December of last year until February was 1.42 degrees. The last winter was the warmest since record keeping began in 1880.