Life
The Impact of Environmental Humidity and Seasonal Changes on Blood Pressure and Major Health Complications: Myocardial Infarction, Stroke, Pulmonary Embolism, Syncope, and Mortality in Hypertensive Elderly Patients in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
By Charach L, Zusmanovitch L, Novikov I and 2 others.
Abstract
Background
Relative humidity is an important meteorological factor that has received considerably less attention than temperature and atmospheric pressure regarding its effects on human health. This study investigated the association between environmental humidity, blood pressure, and major cardiovascular complications in well-controlled hypertensive patients.
Methods
In this prospective study (which was analyzed retrospectively), 128 hypertensive patients aged 65-92 years were followed for five years in a primary care clinic. Clinical evaluations were performed every season, resulting in 20 seasonal observation periods. Relative humidity (RH) was measured during each patient visit. Poisson regression was used to evaluate the associations between humidity, season, age, and the occurrence of major clinical events, including myocardial infarction, stroke, pulmonary embolism, syncope, and death. A negative Binomial model was used to check for overdispersion; no evidence of overdispersion was detected. Repeated-measures multiple linear regression analysis was performed to assess the effect of humidity on systolic and diastolic blood pressure.