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Influence of meteorological variables on the frequency of visits and hospital admission for epistaxis in a city with a cold semi-arid climate (Lorca, Spain)

  • Rhinology
  • Published:
European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background and objectives

Epistaxis is a common emergency for otorhinolaryngologists. Although the aetiological factors have been widely studied, they remain subject to debate. The role of meteorological variables has been discussed in recent years, but results have been inconsistent. Given a lack of prior data, the aim of our study was to identify the meteorological variables that influence the frequency of visits and hospital admission for epistaxis in a city with a cold semi-arid climate in Spain.

Methods

Case–control study. Cases: patients who attended the accident and emergency department of a secondary level hospital for epistaxis over a 9-year period (2011–2019). Controls were established by simple random sampling among emergency rooms visits in general (patients who attended the same centre over the same period of time). Sociodemographic, clinical and meteorological variables were all taken into account.

Results

2749 patients in the epistaxis group and 2764 in the control group. There were significant differences in the epistaxis group, with a higher proportion of male (62.85%) and older patients. Univariate and multivariate analysis revealed that the daily minimum temperature and maximum wind speed were factors significantly associated with the onset of epistaxis. In addition, logistic regression analysis showed that decreases in minimum temperature and increases in maximum wind speed were associated with an increase in epistaxis (p < 0.01). No association was found between hospital admission and the weather conditions.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that low minimum temperatures and high wind speeds are associated with the number of visits to hospital accident and emergency departments for epistaxis, but not with hospital admission.

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Data availability

I, [Javier Gómez-Hervás], as the owner of the data related to the study titled “[ Influence of meteorological variables on the frequency of visits and hospital admission for epistaxis in a city with a cold semi-arid climate (Lorca, Spain)],” hereby declare that the following data is available for access and use by other researchers and stakeholders on javiergomezhervas@yahoo.es.

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Funding

This study did not receive any funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hospital Universitario Rafael Méndez [Rafael Mendez University Hospital], Ctra. N-340, 30813, Lorca, Murcia, Spain

    Javier Gómez-Hervás

  2. Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia [San Antonio Catholic University of Murcia, Guadalupe, Spain

    Esteban Merino-Galvez

Authors
  1. Javier Gómez-Hervás
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  2. Esteban Merino-Galvez
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Correspondence to Javier Gómez-Hervás.

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This study was approved by the ethics committee of Hospital Rafael Méndez.

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Gómez-Hervás, J., Merino-Galvez, E. Influence of meteorological variables on the frequency of visits and hospital admission for epistaxis in a city with a cold semi-arid climate (Lorca, Spain). Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 281, 1307–1315 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-023-08300-6

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