Showing papers by "Jone Vencloviene published in 2017"

The short-term associations of weather and air pollution with emergency ambulance calls for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

Abstract: A circadian variation in the cardiovascular parameters has been detected. It is plausible that the influence of the environment varies during different periods of the day. We investigated the association between daily emergency ambulance calls (EC) for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) that occurred during the time intervals of 8:00-13:59, 14:00-21:59, and 22:00-7:59, and weather conditions and exposure to CO and PM10. We used Poisson regression to explore the association between the risk of EC for AF and environmental variables, adjusting for seasonal variation. Before noon, the risk was associated with an IQR (0.333 mg/m3) increase in CO at lag 2-6 days above the median (RR = 1.15, P = 0.002); a protective impact of CO on previous day was observed (RR = 0.91, P = 0.018). During 14:00-21:59, a negative effect of air temperature below 1.9 °C (lag 2-3 days) was detected (per 10 °C decrease: RR = 1.17, P = 0.044). At night, the elevated risk was associated with wind speed above the median (lag 2-4 days) (per 1-kt increase: RR = 1.07, P = 0.001) and with PM10 at lag 2-5 days below the median (per IQR (7.31 μg/m3) increase: RR = 1.21, P = 0.002). Individuals over 65 years of age were more sensitive to air pollution, especially at night (CO lag 2-3 days < median, per IQR (0.12 mg/m3) increase: RR = 1.14, P = 0.045; PM10 lag 2-5 days < median, per IQR increase: RR = 1.32, P = 0.001). The associations of air pollution and other environmental variables with acute events may be analyzed depending on the time of the event.

A possible association between space weather conditions and the risk of acute coronary syndrome in patients with diabetes and the metabolic syndrome.

Abstract: Hyperglycemia negatively affects cardiovascular variables that are also adversely affected by increased geomagnetic activity. It is likely that geomagnetic storms (GS) could have a stronger negative impact on these patients. We analyzed data on 1548 randomly selected patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) who were admitted inpatient treatment in Kaunas city, during 2000–2003. We evaluated the associations of GS, solar proton events (SPE), and high-speed solar wind (HSSW) (solar wind speed ≥600 km/s) with the risk of ACS in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and the metabolic syndrome (MS) by using logistic regression with categorical predictors. During days of HSSW, the risk of ACS in DM patients increased by 1.95 times (OR = 1.95, 95 % CI 1.36–2.79) as compared to days without either of these events or 2 days prior to or after them. In the multivariate model, the risk of ACS in DM patients was associated with days of HSSW and 1–2 days after (OR = 1.40, 95 % CI 1.01–1.93), with days of GS lasting >1 day and occurring on days of HSSW or 1–2 days after (OR = 2.31, 95 % CI 1.28–4.17), and with the onset of SPE (OR = 2.72 (1.09–6.83)). The risk of ACS in MS patients was associated with days of GS and 1–2 days prior or after GS (OR = 1.31 (1.00–1.73)); an additional impact was established if these days coincided with days of HSSW or 1–2 days before (OR = 2.16 (1.39–3.35)). These findings suggest that not only GS but also HSSW and changes in space weather conditions prior to SPE affect the human cardiovascular system.

Associations of short-term exposure to ambient air pollutants with emergency ambulance calls for the exacerbation of essential arterial hypertension.

Abstract: We investigated the association between daily emergency ambulance calls (EAC) for elevated blood pressure that occurred during the time intervals of 8:00–13:59, 14:00–21:59, and 22:00–7:59,...