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Annual incidence of mortality related to hypertensive disease in Canada and associations with heliophysical parameters

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Abstract

Increasing research into heliobiology and related fields has revealed a myriad of potential relationships between space weather factors and terrestrial biology. Additionally, many studies have indicated cyclicity in incidence of various diseases along with many aspects of cardiovascular function. The current study examined annual mortality associated with hypertensive diseases in Canada from 1979 to 2009 for periodicities and linear relationships with a range of heliophysical parameters. Analyses indicated a number of significant lagged correlations between space weather and hypertensive mortality, with solar wind plasma beta identified as the likely source of these relationships. Similar periodicities were observed for geomagnetic activity and hypertensive mortality. A significant rhythm was revealed for hypertensive mortality centered on a 9.6-year cycle length, while geomagnetic activity was fit with a 10.1-year cycle. Cross-correlograms of mortality with space weather demonstrated a 10.67-year periodicity coinciding with the average 10.6-year solar cycle length for the time period examined. Further quantification and potential implications are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are very grateful to Dr. Germaine Cornélissen for providing assistance and further resources. We also wish to thank Dr. Michael A. Persinger for research support along with providing valuable comments and suggestions and Dr. Karel Kudela for reviewing preliminary results and giving helpful feedback. Further thanks are extended to Dr. Natalia Papitashvili for maintaining the SPDF OMNIWeb database, Prof. Nicolas Rouleau for internal editing, and to Prof. Kevin S. Saroka and Prof. David A. E. Vares for additional technical assistance. Finally, we wish to thank an anonymous reviewer of this manuscript for helpful suggestions.

Ethics standards

This research complies with ethical standards and current laws in Canada.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Transnational Anomalies Research, Sudbury, ON, Canada

    Joseph M. Caswell & Trevor N. Carniello

  2. Neuroscience Research Group, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, Canada

    Joseph M. Caswell, Trevor N. Carniello & Nirosha J. Murugan

  3. Human Studies Program, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, Canada

    Joseph M. Caswell

  4. Biology Program, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, Canada

    Trevor N. Carniello

  5. Biomolecular Sciences Program, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, Canada

    Nirosha J. Murugan

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  1. Joseph M. Caswell
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  2. Trevor N. Carniello
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Correspondence to Joseph M. Caswell.

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Caswell, J.M., Carniello, T.N. & Murugan, N.J. Annual incidence of mortality related to hypertensive disease in Canada and associations with heliophysical parameters. Int J Biometeorol 60, 9–20 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-015-1000-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-015-1000-3

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