Myocardial infarction and weather

Abstract

The association of meterological factors with acute myocardial infarction was studied within a one-year period in Helsinki. Seasonal variation was found with the lowest incidence in summer and the highest in late autumn. Environmental temperature was not significantly correlated with the incidence of myocardial infarction but the case fatality rate was higher on coldest days. Atmospheric pressure turned out to be the meteorological variable with the highest correlation with the occurrence of myocardial infarction. Rapid decrease in atmospheric pressure was also associated with increased incidence of acute myocardial infarction. Relative humidity had little independent effect. The weather types with highest and lowest risk of heart attack were determined by the combined use of factor and cluster analysis. The most unfavourable turned out to be a relatively cold and moist weather with low atmospheric pressure, common in Helsinki during early winter and late autumn. The incidence of infarction did not increase on typical cold and dry winter days. The most favourable weather was warm, dry and stable summer weather. The difference in incidences between most and least favourable weather types was three-fold.