Ambient temperature and mortality from pulmonary embolism: A time series study

Importance of the work and objectives: Several studies have shown the influence of climate variables on hospital admissions and deaths from Pulmonary Embolism (PE). However, this effect is not fully understood. The aim of this... [ view full abstract ]

Importance of the work and objectives: Several studies have shown the influence of climate variables on hospital admissions and deaths from Pulmonary Embolism (PE). However, this effect is not fully understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of temperature on mortality from pulmonary embolism in São Paulo.
Methodologies: Daily mortality data from PE of the city of São Paulo- Brazil was used for a period of ten years (2002-2011). Mean temperatures, atmospheric pressure and relative humidity were tested. Quasi-Poisson regression models with GLM were built to estimate the effects mean temperature on mortality for PE, controlling for pollutants, and day of the week.
Results: The Relative Risk between the mean temperature and the PE was high (1.45), with high temperatures in the early days of exposure, with a time lag of more than 15 days the heat is replaced by protective effect, as for cold temperature the risk was low but present between the first days of exposure and with a lag of 15 to 21 days. Cases in elderly (over 65 years) in contrast had higher risk with cold temperatures (RR = 1.40), with heat there was almost no association.
Conclusion: The identification of risk temperatures for mortality from pulmonary embolism is extremely important for the public health since this disease is victimizing a large number of people in Sao Paulo.