Effect of yearly seasonal changes and meteorological parameters on the severity of pulmonary thromboembolism

Abstract

AimThere is inadequate knowledge about the relationship between pulmo-nary thromboembolism and humidity, temperature, and pressure in patients without risk factors for pulmonary thromboembolism. This study investigat-ed whether or not there is an association between the frequency and se-verity of pulmonary embolism and meteorological parameters.MethodA total of 81 patients who were diagnosed with pulmonary throm-boembolism during the years 2009-2011 were included in this retrospec-tive study. Meteorological factors at the time of diagnosis were recorded retrospectively, using data from the Turkish State Meteorological Service. Temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, and patient features were evaluated statistically.ResultsTwenty-two patients (27.2%) were diagnosed in the spring, while 25 (30.9%) were diagnosed in summer. The incidence of pulmonary thromboembolism was negatively correlated with decreasing humidity (p: 0.001). Pulmonary thromboembolism incidence was higher in moderate atmospheric pressure (p: 0.001). We found no statistically signifi-cant relationship between the severity of pulmonary embolism and meteoro-logical factors (temperature, atmospheric pressure, and humidity) in patients with or without risk factors for pulmonary thromboembolism.ConclusionWe observed that incidence of pulmonary thromboembolism may be higher in spring and summer. Our study demonstrated that there was an association between pulmonary thromboembolism and humidity. Seasonal variations in meteorological parameters should be considered in treatment of patients with pulmonary thromboembolism but no known risk factors.

Keywords

Additional Information

Publisher’s Note
Bayrakol MP remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional and institutional claims.

Rights and Permissions

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). To view a copy of the license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

View full license details →