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Independent influences of extreme atmospheric pressure on hypertension-related ER visits

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Abstract

Frequent emergency room (ER) visits occur for acute symptoms of hypertension or related complications in Beijing, China. Among the meteorological variables, atmospheric pressure directly relates to weather conditions and is hardly affected by artificial factors. In the studies of weather conditions and hypertension-related risks, atmospheric pressure is rarely found in literatures. Based on records of ER visit related to hypertension from three major hospitals in Beijing, from 2008 to 2012, the daily maximum (Pmax) and minimum (Pmin) atmospheric pressures were investigated in this study to identify the influences of air pressure on ER visits. Advanced time series models were utilized in quantifying their associations. In addition, major air pollutants and other meteorological variables including temperature, solar duration, and humidity were incorporated in the multivariate models to reveal the independent association between atmospheric pressure and ER visits. The results indicated the following:

1. The number of ER visits positively correlates with all atmospheric pressure metrics in both bivariate and partial correlation analyses.

2. The estimated relative risk (RR) corresponding to 1 hPa change in Pmax indicated a significant effect (Pmax = 1029 hPa, RR = 1.107, 95% CIs: 1.034-1.185) from high Pmax on short lag terms. RR for males and the elders grew prominently at lag 1 d, whereas females responded to Pmax at lag 4 d.

3. The middle-aged group (45–65 years) was threatened by extremely low Pmin with one day lag.

4. As for young (< 45 years) hypertensive patients, no effect from atmospheric pressure was identified.

This study may provide new evidence that extreme atmospheric pressure is an independent inducer of hypertension-related symptoms or complications.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Key Research Project of China-Strategy on Black Carbon Reduction and Evaluation of the Health Effects of Climate Change (2016YFA0602004); the Open fund project of Shanghai Key Laboratory of Meteorology and Health entitled “Research on the Onset and Forecast of Meteorological Sensitive Diseases Based on Harmonic Analysis” (QXJK201701); the National Scientific Data Sharing Platform for Population and Health (Professional Services for Meteorology, Environment and Public Health); the Major Science and Technology Projects of Sichuan Province (2018SZDZX0023); and the Chengdu University of Information Technology scientific research fund (KYTZ201811).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environmental Meteorology and Health, College of Atmospheric Science, Chengdu University of Information Technology, Chengdu, 610000, China

    Pan Ma, Shigong Wang, Lei Chen, Xiaoling Zhang & Yun Zhang

  2. Department of Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY, 42101, USA

    Xingang Fan

  3. College of Electronic Engineering, Chengdu University of Information Technology, Chengdu, 610000, China

    Xingang Fan

  4. Department of Gastroenterology, The First Hospital of Lanzhou City, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Ning Zhou

  5. The Second Clinical Medical College, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Ning Zhou

  6. Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 100000, China

    Tanshi Li

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Contributions

PM, SW, and LC conceived and designed the research; PM, SW and XZ were responsible for analyzing the data; and TL contributed materials; LC, PM, XF, and NZ drafted the manuscript and the appendix, while SW, XZ, NZ, and YZ all involved in discussing, editing, and revising the paper.

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Shigong Wang contributed prominently to this work and should be considered a co-first author.

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Ma, P., Wang, S., Chen, L. et al. Independent influences of extreme atmospheric pressure on hypertension-related ER visits. Air Qual Atmos Health 13, 1065–1074 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-020-00859-x

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