Absolute Temperature, Temperature Changes and Stroke Risk: A Case-Crossover Study
- 1 August 2005
- journal article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in European Journal of Epidemiology
- Vol. 20 (8), 693-698
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-005-0703-x
Abstract
Studies suggest that there is an association between weather patterns and ischemic stroke risk. Exposure to a sudden decrease in temperature may increase stroke risk through altering blood viscosity and/or by triggering infections. We investigated the association between ischemic stroke risk and change in temperature. We used a case-crossover study design with 303 consecutive patients admitted to Heidelberg University, Department of Neurology over a one and a half year period (Aug 1998-Jan 2000). We used one day before stroke as the hazard (case) period matched to two control periods 2-7 days before and after stroke onset and took both ambient maximum temperature and the 24-hour difference in maximum temperature as exposure. There was no risk associated with ambient maximum temperature at all lag times and in all subgroup analyses. For the 24-hour difference, large changes in temperature (>5 degrees C) were associated with an increased risk of acute ischemic stroke regardless of whether the change was negative or positive. The odds ratio for temperature increases >5 degrees C compared to no change in temperature was 2.0 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.7-5.9) at a lag time of 3 days. We found no relevant relation between temperature and stroke risk. The results suggest that the risk of ischemic stroke may increase with large day-to-day variations upwards or downwards in temperature.Keywords
This publication has 22 references indexed in Scilit:
- Periodontal Disease as a Risk Factor for Ischemic StrokeStroke, 2004
- Ischemic Stroke and Temperature DecreaseEpidemiology, 2004
- Ischemic Stroke Associated with Decrease in TemperatureEpidemiology, 2003
- An evaluation of climate/mortality relationships in large U.S. cities and the possible impacts of a climate change.Environmental Health Perspectives, 1997
- Seasonal Variation in the Occurrence of Stroke in a Finnish Adult PopulationStroke, 1996
- Temporal Patterns of Stroke OnsetStroke, 1995
- Weather and Stroke in a Subtropical Area: Ilan, TaiwanStroke, 1995
- Recent Infection as a Risk Factor for Cerebrovascular IschemiaStroke, 1995
- Cold-induced Increases in Erythrocyte Count, Plasma Cholesterol and Plasma Fibrinogen of Elderly People without a Comparable Rise in Protein C or Factor XClinical Science, 1994
- Increases in platelet and red cell counts, blood viscosity, and arterial pressure during mild surface cooling: factors in mortality from coronary and cerebral thrombosis in winter.BMJ, 1984