Abstract
In order to assess factors associated with spontaneous pneumothorax (SP), mainly climatic changes, a prospective study was undertaken of 62 SP episodes among patients admitted to our hospital during a two-year period, from January 1994 to January 1996. Atmospheric pressure (AP) changes were analyzed, with daily recording of the number of unusual changes in AP (increases above 95th percentile and decreases below 5th percentile) and how many of these changes were followed by some episode of spontaneous pneumothorax during the following five days. To measure the degree of this association between the emergence of pneumothorax and exposure to unusual changes I AP, the relative risk (RR) was calculated. A total of 77 unusual AP changes were observed, 17 of which concurred with the emergence of 8 episodes of SP during the following five days, with a RR of 2.7 (1.6-4.4). Although the etiology of SP is unknown and probably of multifactorial origin, these data suggest that unusual changes in AP may play a relevant role in triggering this condition.
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