Temperature and cardiovascular deaths in Montreal

Abstract

The incidence of mortality from myocardial infarction over a 2-year period in Montreal is examined in relation to temperatures and snowfall. Mortality is seen to increase with deviations from seasonally determined thermally neutral conditions, although compared to observations of a parallel study in subtropical Brisbane, death rates are lower with similar falls in temperature. In Montreal, mortality is also seen to increase with snow during the previous day. During anomalous cold spells death frequencies decrease, a phenomenon interpreted as the behavioural thermoregulatory process of cold avoidance.