Weekly and seasonal variation in the incidence of cardiac arrests.
BACKGROUND
Patterns of temporal variation of cardiac arrests may be important for understanding mechanisms leading to the onset of acute cardiovascular disorders. Previous studies have reported diurnal variation of the onset of cardiac arrests, with high incidence in the morning and in the evening, lack of daily variation during the week, and some seasonal variation.


RESULTS
We explored weekly and yearly (seasonal) temporal variation in 6603 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests attended by the Seattle Fire Department. We observed daily variation that peaks on Monday and seasonal variation that peaks in the winter.


CONCLUSIONS
Cardiac arrests do not occur randomly during the week or year but follow certain periodic patterns. These patterns are probably associated with patterns of activities.
Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington, Seattle 98105- 4689, USA.
M
M
Peckova
C E
CE
Fahrenbruch
L A
LA
Cobb
A P
AP
Hallstrom
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D019992:Databases as Topic; D005260:Female; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010507:Periodicity; D012621:Seasons; D013997:Time Factors; D014861:Washington / Q000453:epidemiology