Relationships of physiologically equivalent temperature and hospital admissions due to I30–I51 other forms of heart disease in Germany in 2009–2011

Abstract

We aimed to understand relationships of the weather as biometeorological and hospital admissions due to other forms of heart disease by subtypes, which have been paid less attention, in a national setting in recent years. This is an ecological study. Ten percent of daily hospital admissions of the included hospitals (n = 1618) across Germany that were available between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2011 (n = 5,235,600) were extracted from Statistisches Bundesamt, Germany. We identified I30–I51 other forms of heart disease by the International Classification of Diseases version 10 as the study outcomes. Daily weather data from 64 weather stations that have covered 13 German states, including air temperature, humidity, wind speed, cloud cover, radiation flux and vapour pressure, were obtained and generated into physiologically equivalent temperature (PET). Admissions due to other diseases of pericardium, nonrheumatic mitral valve disorders, nonrheumatic aortic valve disorders, cardiomyopathy, atrioventricular and left bundle-branch block, other conduction disorders, atrial fibrillation and flutter, and other cardiac arrhythmias peaked when PET was between 0 and 10 °C. Complications and ill-defined descriptions of heart disease admissions peaked at PET 0 °C. Cardiac arrest and heart failure admissions peaked when PET was between 0 and −10 °C while the rest did not vary significantly. A common drop of admissions was found when PET was above 10 °C. More medical resources could have been needed for heart health on days when PETs were <10 °C than on other days. Adaptation to such weather change for medical professionals and the general public would seem to be imperative.

Impact of urban outdoor thermal conditions on selected hospital admissions in Novi Sad, Serbia

“…A limited number of studies have examined the impact of PET on hospital admissions in Central European cities. The findings of this research are partially consistent with those of other studies that found a higher risk of cardiovascular admissions (Shiue et al, 2016a;Shiue et al, 2016b;Santurtun et al, 2020) and respiratory admissions (Nastos and Matzarakis, 2006) under conditions of lower PET. Our results regarding respiratory disease admissions differed from those of two other studies conducted by Borsi et al (2021) for Ahvaz (Iran), which showed that low PET levels reduced the incidence of all respiratory diseases except asthma; and from those of a study for Olsztyn (Poland), which found that a decline in the UTCI led to a reduction in the number of asthma cases (Romaszko-Wojtowicz et al, 2020).…”

Seasonal Variability in The Implantations of Cardiovascular Electronic Devices

“…They also found that a sudden drop in the outside air temperature of greater than 11 °C within 30 days prior to admission was associated with a higher number of patients with atrioventricular block. In a recent study, Shiue et al reported a winter predominance of atrioventricular block in Germany [22]. Our study showed in contrast, that there were significant peaks in PM implantations in the summer months with a trough in the winter.…”

Climatic influences on cardiovascular diseases

“…Thus, increases in heat-related mortality due to global warming are unlikely to be compensated by decreases in cold-related mortality[ 112 ]. In a global environment of rapid and extreme climatic events, more populations will be exposed to conditions they are not readily adapted to from a bio-behavioural perspective[ 60 , 144 ]. Adaptation to such changes, that are expected to further increase, would seem to be imperative for medical professionals, health institutions, and general public[ 41 , 70 ].…”

“…Current paradigm in sudden cardiac death (SCD) requires an abnormal myocardial substrate and an internal or external transient factor (such as a cold spell, an unusually cold weather event) that triggers cardiac arrest. An increased risk of ischaemic SCD was significantly associated with a preceding cold spell[ 95 ], and cardiac arrest admissions peaked when temperatures were between 0° and -10°C[ 60 ]. These associations were stronger for unexpected SCD than for SCD with prior CHD[ 45 ].…”