Human biometeorological relevance of low frequency air pressure oscillations

Abstract

Surveys concerning weather sensitivity, which have been carried out throughout Germany, came to the conclusion that more than every second German assumes that he/she is suffering from weather sensitivity. These surveys show how important weather sensitivity is for public health. The aim of this study was to analyse the associations between low frequency air pressure oscillations (LFAPO) and medical emergency calls, as well as traffic accidents. The study had a longitudinal design covering a full year. The basis of the analyses were high resolution measurements (measuring rate 1 Hz) of the air pressure with a digital precision barometer during one year in Munich. These air pressure data were evaluated with regard to the different frequency ranges using Fourier analysis. As dependent variables the daily numbers of medical emergency calls (n = 86805) and traffic accidents (n = 47706) of one year (1.4.2002 till 31.3.2003) in the metropolitan area of Munich were entered into the statistical models. After a descriptive analysis, correlations between the independent variables and the meteorological parameters, especially the low frequency air pressure oscillations, were calculated using multivariate linear regression models. It could be shown that medical emergency calls and traffic accidents were associated with low frequency air pressure oscillations.