Seasonal Variation in Heart Failure Hospitalization
Open Access
- 27 April 2011
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Clinical Cardiology
- Vol. 34 (6), 389-394
- https://doi.org/10.1002/clc.20895
Abstract
Background: A seasonal variation has been reported for occurrence of acute cardiovascular events, such as myocardial infarction, sudden death, and rupture/dissection of aortic aneurysms. Hypothesis: The aim of this study was to determine whether a seasonal variation exists for heart failure (HF) hospitalization. Methods: The study included all cases of HF admissions to Ferrara Hospital between January 2002 and December 2009. The sample was divided into subgroups by gender, age, cardiovascular risk factors, patients' outcome, and order of ICD-9 codes (first diagnosis, accessory diagnosis). On the basis of date of admission, cases have been analyzed for seasonal variation and annual frequency. For seasonal analysis, monthly cases were categorized into four 3-month intervals by seasons. Moreover, monthly admissions have been also adjusted for number of days, and the average number of admissions per month has been used. Results: The database included 15 954 patients with the ICD-9-CM codes of HF (420–429). Hospital admissions for HF were most frequent in winter (28.4%) and least in summer (20.4%). Chronobiological analysis yielded a significant peak in January for total cases and all subgroups considered. No differences were found for subgroups by gender, age, fatal cases, presence of hypertension and diabetes mellitus, patients' outcome, and order of ICD-9 codes (first diagnosis, accessory diagnosis). Conclusions: A seasonal periodicity for HF hospitalization was demonstrated, with a peak in winter months, independent of gender, age, major cardiovascular risk factor, and patients' outcome. These data could be useful for practitioners to improve causative prevention measures, therapeutic management, and educational strategies. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. The authors have no funding, financial relationships, or conflicts of interest to disclose.Keywords
This publication has 38 references indexed in Scilit:
- The seasonality in heart failure deaths and total cardiovascular deathsAustralian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 2008
- Incident Heart Failure Hospitalization and Subsequent Mortality in Chronic Heart Failure: A Propensity-Matched StudyJournal of Cardiac Failure, 2008
- Seasonal variation in occurrence of aortic diseases: The database of hospital discharge data of the Emilia–Romagna region, ItalyThe Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, 2008
- Comparing estimates of influenza-associated hospitalization and death among adults with congestive heart failure based on how influenza season is definedBMC Public Health, 2008
- A Community Based Epidemiological and Clinical Study of Hospitalization of Patients With Congestive Heart Failure in Northern Iwate, JapanCirculation Journal, 2007
- Heart Failure in a Cold Climate. Initial Experience With an Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator Incorporating Cardiac Resynchronization TherapyCongestive Heart Failure, 2002
- Hypertension in the ElderlyThe American Journal of Geriatric Cardiology, 2000
- Chronolab: An Interactive Software Package for Chronobiologic Time Series Analysis Written for the Macintosh ComputerChronobiology International, 1992
- Seasonal variation in occurrence of acute atrial fibrillation and relation to air temperature and sale of alcoholThe American Journal of Cardiology, 1990
- Seasonal variation in arterial blood pressure.BMJ, 1982