Hospital admissions due to diseases of arteries and veins peaked at physiological equivalent temperature -10 to 10 °C in Germany in 2009-2011

Abstract

We aimed to understand relationships of the weather as biometeorological and hospital admissions due to diseases of arteries and veins by subtypes, which have been scarcely studied, in a national setting in recent years. This is an ecological study. Ten percent of daily hospital admissions from the included hospitals (n = 1,618) 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 I70-I79 Diseases of arteries, arterioles and capillaries and I80-I89 Diseases of veins, lymphatic vessels and lymph nodes by International Classification of Diseases version 10 as the study outcomes. Daily weather data from 64 weather stations that 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). Two-way fractional-polynomial prediction was plotted with 95 % confidence intervals. For most of the subtypes from diseases of arteries and veins, hospital admissions slightly peaked in spring and dropped when PET was at 10 °C. There were no other large differences across 12 months. Admissions of peripheral vascular diseases, arterial embolism and thrombosis, phlebitis and thrombophlebitis, oesophageal varices and nonspecific lymphadenitis peaked when PET was between 0 and -10 °C, while others peaked when PET was between 0 and 10 °C. More medical resources could have been needed on days when PETs were at -10 to 10 °C than on other days. Adaptation to such weather change for health professionals and the general public would seem to be imperative.

Keywords: Artery; Atherosclerosis; Biometeorology; Hospital admission; Thrombosis; Vein; Weather.

Fig. 1

Relationship of PETs and admissions of I70 Atherosclerosis

Fig. 2

Relationship of PETs and admissions of I71 Aortic aneurysm and dissection

Fig. 3

Relationship of PETs and admissions of I72 Other aneurysm and dissection

Fig. 4

Relationship of PETs and admissions of I73 Other peripheral vascular diseases

Fig. 5

Relationship of PETs and admissions of I74 Arterial embolism and thrombosis

Fig. 6

Relationship of PETs and admissions of I77 Other disorders of arteries and arterioles

Fig. 7

Relationship of PETs and admissions of I80 Phlebitis and thrombophlebitis

Fig. 8

Relationship of PETs and admissions of I81 Portal vein thrombosis

Fig. 9

Relationship of PETs and admissions of I82 Other venous embolism and thrombosis

Fig. 10

Relationship of PETs and admissions of I83 Varicose veins of lower extremities

Fig. 11

Relationship of PETs and admissions of I84 Haemorrhoids

Fig. 12

Relationship of PETs and admissions of I85 Oesophageal varices

Fig. 13

Relationship of PETs and admissions of I86 Varicose veins of other sites

Fig. 14

Relationship of PETs and admissions of I87 Other disorders of veins

Fig. 15

Relationship of PETs and admissions of I88 Nonspecific lymphadenitis

Fig. 16

Relationship of PETs and admissions of I89 Other noninfective disorders of lymphatic vessels and lymph nodes