Effects of temperature extremes on hospital admissions for cardiovascular diseases

Faculty of Sicence, Charles University Aleš Urban, Praha 2012 Effects of temperature extremes on hospital admissions for cardiovascular diseases The thesis compares differences in the impacts of warm and cold days on both excess mortality and hospitalizations for individual cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in Prague and a selected rural region (southern Bohemia - JČ) consisting of the Jihočeský kraj and Vysočina districts in the period 1994- 2009. Population size and age structure are similar in the two regions. The differences are compared between selected population groups (men and women; < 65 and 65+ years). Value of the 90% (10%) percentile of daily mean air temperature in summer (winter) during the period were used for the definition of warm (cold) days for each region separately. The excess mortality and hospitalizations were determined as the difference from standardized daily counts of death and hospital admissions, adjusted for epidemics of influenza/acute respiratory infections, long-term changes, and for annual and weekly cycles of mortality and hospitalizations. Generally higher relative excess CVD mortality on warm days was identified in Prague, while for cold days we found higher excess mortality in south Bohemia. In contrast to mortality, weak excess CVD hospitalizations were observed for both..