The effects of climate variations on the incidence of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34631/sporl.2095Keywords:
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo, Temperature, Atmospheric Pressure, Humidity, MeteorologyAbstract
Background and objective: Vestibular symptoms are among the most common medical complaints in the emergency room. Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) is one of the most frequently observed diagnoses in these patients and has a considerable personal and health care burden. Our aim is to evaluate the weekly and seasonal incidence of BPPV and study the possible relationship between the incidence of BPPV and the climate variations that occurred throughout the year 2021, in the metropolitan area of Lisbon.Material and Methods: Retrospective study of adult patients (18 years or older), diagnosed with BPPV at Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Central, between January and December 2021. Meteorological factors for the same period were collected from official data for the metropolitan area of Lisbon, namely atmospheric temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, cloud amount, daylight time and solar radiation.
Results: A total of 178 patients were diagnosed with BPPV; 62 were male (34.8%) and 116 were female (65.2%). A seasonality pattern was found in the incidence of BPPV, with a lower number of patients diagnosed with BPPV in the summer months (p = 0.0002). There was a negative and statistically significant association between atmospheric temperature (r = -0.5215, p = 0.000063), daylight time (r = -0.4024, p = 0. 002847) and solar radiation (r = -0.4463, p = 0.000817) with the number of BPPV patients diagnosed per week. A positive and significant association was found between cloud amount and the incidence of BPPV (r = 0.537, p = 0.000034). No statistically significant association was found between atmospheric pressure (r = -0.0366, p = 0.798015) or humidity (r = 0.2525, p = 0.068707) with the incidence of BPPV.
Conclusions: The incidence of BPPV decreases in the summer months, when atmospheric temperature, solar radiation and daylight time are higher and cloud amount is lower.
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