Climate, air and weather influences on aortic ruptures in Augsburg and Munich

Start date: 11/2019
End date: ongoing
Funding: Chair of Regional Climate Change and Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Augsburg; Chair of Vascular Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Augsburg
Project responsibility on site:  Dr. Irena Kaspar-Ott,  Prof. Dr. Elke Hertig

The suggestion that weather and air pollutants may have an influence on aortic ruptures has been studied for many years. However, all previous publications on this topic show a very wide range of results. To date, the most commonly studied variables in relation to aortic ruptures are air pressure and air temperature.

In this project we develop a new statistical approach to analyze the influence of weather and air quality on aortic ruptures. We do not limit ourselves to the meteorological variables mainly mentioned in the literature, such as air pressure and temperature, but extend the spectrum of investigation to include other important variables such as humidity, precipitation, wind speed and wind direction. In addition, the influence of air pollutants such as ozone and particulate matter is also investigated. All variables that show a significant correlation with ruptures are further analyzed under climatological and weather situation-specific aspects. Clinical data are based on patient data on aortic ruptures from the two university hospitals Augsburg and Munich (rechts der Isar) over a period of ten years (2010-2019).

Project responsibility:

Prof. Dr. Elke Hertig, Regional Climate Change and Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Augsburg

Prof. Dr. Alexander Hyhlik-Dürr, Clinic for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, UK Augsburg

Prof. Dr. Hans-Henning Eckstein, Clinic and Polyclinic for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, TU Munich

Publication:

Kaspar-Ott, I., Olschewski, P., Koller, S., Hyhlik-Duerr, A., Streck, E., Eckstein, H.-H., Radu, O., Hertig, E. (2022): Determination of the influence of weather and air constituents on aortic aneurysm ruptures. Heliyon, 8(4), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09263