Weather and vascular diseases

(in Croatian)

Abstract

Meteorotropism of vascular diseases has been investigated through relationship of vascular attacks daily frequency (myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular insults and lung embolism, including lethal cases) to various meteorological states and elements in Zagreb during 1976 and 1977.

The sort of the weather types prevailing on days with attacks daily frequency greater than ^{x̄+σ (x̄)} is a daily average of acute disease cases for each month) have been studied as well as relation to weather fronts passages, warm and cold. An influence of particular meteorological elements (air temperature, pressure and relative humidity; their interdiurnal changeability; intradiurnal temperature variability; vertical temperature gradient at 01 a.m. and 01 p.m. and Ri -number at 01 p.m.) upon frequency of acute vascular diseases were studied by means of linear correlation calculation.

Results reveal that the greatest frequency of acute vascular diseases appeared in advective weather types, bringing, in their northerly or southerly flow, air masses with very different thermal characteristics than formerly. They are followed by cyclonal types and throughs, and high pressure ridges in transitional seasons. Days with front passages are particularly significant for appearance of the acute phase of the disease. Vascular incidents are most frequent on days with cold front passages, but they also occur on a day before as well as a day after the front passage. On a day with warm front passage the number of vascular incidence decreases but two days earlier it increases. A significant correlation has been found between vascular incidents and periods of several days characterized by decreased air temperature, small intradiurnal variations of temperature, air pressure and temperature great interdiurnal change as well as by disturbed stability during night and day. The most dangerous seven-day periods for vascular patients were characterized with nightly instability and daily stability in the near ground atmospheric layer.