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Influence of air pressure, humidity, solar radiation, temperature, and wind speed on ambulatory visits due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Bavaria, Germany

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Abstract

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality in the world. The disease is often aggravated by periods of increased symptoms requiring medical attention. Among the possible triggers for these exacerbations, meteorological factors are under consideration. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of various meteorological factors on the health status of patients with COPD. For this purpose, the daily number of ambulatory care visits due to COPD was analysed in Bavaria, Germany, for the years 2006 and 2007. The meteorological factors were provided by the model at the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF). For the multivariate analysis, a generalised linear model was used. In Bavaria, an increase of 1% of daily consultations (about 103 visits per day) was found to be associated with a change of 0.72 K temperature, 209.55 of log air surface pressure in Pa, and a decrease of 1% of daily consultations with 1,453,763 Ws m2 of solar radiation. There also seem to be regional differences between north and south Bavaria; for instance, the effect of wind speed and specific humidity with a lag of 1 day were only significant in the north. This study could contribute to a tool for the prevention of exacerbations. It also serves as a model for the further evaluation of the impact of meteorological factors on health, and could easily be applied to other diseases or other regions.

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Acknowledgments

This study is part of the projects entitled Project no. 223996 within the 7th EU framework, GENeric European Sustainable Information Space for Environment (GENESIS) and Gesundheitswetter Bayern, project number 20-10-3410.1-06-2008 funded of the Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wirtschaft, Infrastruktur, Verkehr und Technologie and by the Bayerische Gleichstellungsförderung Bayern (BGF).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Respiratory Medicine Campus Innnenstadt, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Ziemssenstraße 1, 80336, Munich, Germany

    Uta Ferrari, Eva R Wanka, Amanda Tufman, Christian Heumann, Rudolf M Huber & Rainald Fischer

  2. Department of Statistics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Ludwigstr. 33, 80539, Munich, Germany

    Teresa Exner

  3. German Aerospace Center (DLR), German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD), Münchener Straße 20, 82234, Weßling, Germany

    Christoph Bergemann, Julian Meyer-Arnek, Beate Hildenbrand & Michael Bittner

Authors
  1. Uta Ferrari
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  2. Teresa Exner
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  3. Eva R Wanka
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  4. Christoph Bergemann
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  5. Julian Meyer-Arnek
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  6. Beate Hildenbrand
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  7. Amanda Tufman
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  8. Christian Heumann
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  9. Rudolf M Huber
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  10. Michael Bittner
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  11. Rainald Fischer
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Correspondence to Uta Ferrari.

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Ferrari, U., Exner, T., Wanka, E.R. et al. Influence of air pressure, humidity, solar radiation, temperature, and wind speed on ambulatory visits due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Bavaria, Germany. Int J Biometeorol 56, 137–143 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-011-0405-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-011-0405-x

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