Effect of weather as biometeorologic on hospital admissions in the UK: biometeorological methods comparison

Abstract

Background Environmental factors are thought to have a role in seasonal variation for many human diseases. Aim In this study, we aimed to study the relationship of weather as biometeorologic and hospital admissions due to different causes in the UK. Method Daily hospital admissions from included primary care trusts (PCTs) within Plymouth area between 1 January and 31 December, 2010 were extracted. We identified asthma admissions (J45-J46), all respiratory disease admissions (J00-J99), circulatory disease admissions (I00-I99), cerebrovascular disease admissions (I60-I69), nervous system disorder admissions (G00-G99), and mental and behavior disorder admissions (F00-F99) as the study outcomes. Hourly weather data including air temperature, humidity, wind speed, cloud cover, and radiation flux in the same time period were obtained and generated into universal thermal climate index (UTCI) and physiological equivalent temperature (PET). Analyses included generalised linear modelling. Results In the present study, we have observed that there were differences among air temperature, UTCI, and PET. However, it's consistent that among the three, weather has significanly impacted on hospital admissions due to ischemia heart disease (temperature: Beta -0.03, 95%CI -0.05 to -0.01; UTCI: Beta -0.05, 95%CI -0.07 to -0.02; PET: Beta -0.04, 95%CI -0.06 to -0.01), hypertension (temperature: Beta -0.12, 95%CI -0.17 to -0.08; UTCI: Beta -0.17, 95%CI -0.24 to -0.11; PET: Beta -0.16, 95%CI -0.21 to -0.10), total mental disorders (temperature: Beta 0.18, 95%CI 0.07-0.28; UTCI: Beta 0.22, 95%CI 0.07-0.36; PET: Beta 0.20, 95%CI 0.07-0.33), and total respiratory disorders (temperature: Beta -0.13, 95%CI -0.15 to -0.11; UTCI: Beta -0.17, 95%CI -0.20 to -0.14; PET: Beta -0.16, 95%CI -0.18 to -0.13). Conclusion Weather could have a great impact than previously thought. PET seems to be more conservative than UTCI as an exposure in assessing effect of weather on hospital admissions.