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The effect of meteorological variables on spontaneous pneumothorax in two regions with different altitudes

International Journal of Biometeorology volume 65, pages 503–511 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Spontaneous pneumothorax (SP) is defined as the presence of free air inside the pleural space. Many studies have reported that meteorological variables may trigger SP, but the mechanism is unknown. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of meteorological variables on the development of SP in two regions with different altitudes. The study was conducted in the Çanakkale (2 m above sea level) and the Erzurum region (1758 m). A total of 494 patients with SP who presented to the hospitals of the two regions between January 2011 and December 2016 were included in the study. The meteorological variables used included ambient temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, precipitation amount, wind speed, and wind direction (as north and south). The total 2192 days were divided into two as days with and without an SP case presentation. A 4-day period prior to the day a case presented was compared with the other days without any cases to investigate the presence of any lagged effect. Statistical significance was accepted at p < 0.05. Comparison of these two regions showed a significant difference between them. The meteorological variables of the regions that affect SP development were found to be low mean minimum temperature, high daily temperature change, low precipitation, low wind speed and north winds for Erzurum, and only rainy days for Çanakkale. The results have demonstrated that cold weather, sudden temperature changes, north winds, and low wind speed are risk factors for the development of SP at high altitudes.

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Funding

This study has been supported by the Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Scientific Research Project TSA-2018-2634.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical School, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Canakkale, Turkey

    Murat Daş, Okan Bardakci, Canan Akman & Okhan Akdur

  2. Department of Thoracic Surgery, Medical School, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Canakkale, Turkey

    Timuçin Alar & İsmail Ertuğrul Gedik

  3. Department of Emergency Medicine, Erzurum Region Education and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Erzurum, Turkey

    Orhan Delice

  4. Department of Thoracic Surgery, Medical School, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey

    Ali Bilal Ulaş

Authors
  1. Murat Daş
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  2. Timuçin Alar
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  3. Orhan Delice
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  4. İsmail Ertuğrul Gedik
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  5. Okan Bardakci
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  6. Canan Akman
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  7. Ali Bilal Ulaş
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  8. Okhan Akdur
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to İsmail Ertuğrul Gedik.

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This study was approved by the Clinical Studies Ethics Committee of the Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Faculty of Medicine with project no. 66237542-202.03.02-47393 and was supported as Scientific Research Project TSA-2018-2634.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Daş, M., Alar, T., Delice, O. et al. The effect of meteorological variables on spontaneous pneumothorax in two regions with different altitudes. Int J Biometeorol 65, 503–511 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-020-02040-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-020-02040-6

Keywords

  • Meteorological conditions
  • Altitude
  • Wind
  • Spontaneous pneumothorax
  • Temperature