title: Is there a relationship between weather conditions and aortic dissection?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bleeding and rupture of blood vessels has been correlated with weather conditions in the past. This is the first study in the world literature with the aim of investigating the relationship between atmospheric pressure and temperature with the presentation of aortic dissection.
  
  
  METHODS
  The dates of all emergency aortic dissection repairs from 1996-2002 in a regional cardiothoracic unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital were obtained. Hourly temperature and pressure data from a regional weather station for this time period was supplied by the Meteorological Office. The mean and standard deviation of hourly temperature and pressure data for that month were compared to the mean and standard deviation of the data 24 and 48 hours prior to the aortic dissection.
  
  
  RESULTS
  26 patients were found to have been operated on during the time period studied. There was no statistically significant correlation between temperature or atmospheric pressure readings, and the incidence of aortic dissection, using a Bonferonni-corrected significance p-value of 0.005
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study is the first to examine the relationship between atmospheric pressure, temperature and dissecting thoracic aorta. No statistically significant relationship was demonstrable.
authors.affiliation: ENT Department, Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, United Kingdom. costa@repanos.com
authors.forename: Costa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Repanos
authors.forename: Neil K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Chadha
mesh_terms: D000784:Aortic Dissection / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000601:surgery; D001014:Aortic Aneurysm / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000601:surgery; D001274:Atmospheric Pressure; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012621:Seasons; D013696:Temperature; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D014887:Weather