THE INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHICAL LATITUDE ON THE NUMBER OF HOSPITALIZATIONS FOR CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE IN YEARS WITH LOW AND HIGH GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY

Abstract

The aim of this work was to establish the relationship between the dynamics of geomagnetic activity during 1998-2009 y.y. and dynamics of hospitalizations for cardiovascular diseases in the countries of Northern, Central and Southern Europe. In our study statistical data about hospitalizations for overall cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease were taken from the European health for all database. For the evaluation of geomagnetic activity values daily indices of geomagnetic activity were taken from the site of the Space weather prediction center. A direct relationship between the planetary geomagnetic activity and the number of hospitalizations for ischemic heart disease (IHD) in countries of Northern and Central Europe has been revealed. In addition, in the Nordic countries in a year with maximum solar activity, the number of hospitalizations for IHD was signifi cantly higher than in a year with minimal solar activity. In the countries of Southern Europe, there was no correlation between the solar activity and the number of hospitalizations for the studied cardiovascular diseases. It can be concluded that geomagnetic storms cause increase in the number of hospitalizations for IHD in the countries of Northern Europe. The infl uence of geomagnetic disturbances on the number of hospitalizations for IHD decreases with the decrease in geographical latitude.