title: Weather and triggering of ventricular arrhythmias in patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators.
abstract: Outdoor ambient weather has been hypothesized to be responsible for the seasonal distribution of cardiac arrhythmias. Because people spend most of their time indoors, we hypothesized that weather-related arrhythmia risk would be better estimated using an indoor measure or an outdoor measure that correlates well with indoor conditions, such as absolute humidity. The clinical records of 203 patients in eastern Massachusetts, USA, with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator were abstracted for arrhythmias between 1995 and 2002. We used case-crossover methods to examine the association between weather and ventricular arrhythmia (VA). Among 84 patients who experienced 787 VAs, lower estimated indoor temperature (odds ratio (OR)=1.16, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05-1.27 for a 1 °C decrease in the 24-h average) and lower absolute humidity (OR=1.06, 95% CI 1.03-1.08 for a 0.5 g/m(3) decrease in the 96-h average) were associated with increased risk. Lower outdoor temperature increased risk only in warmer months, likely attributable to the poor correlation between outdoor and indoor temperature during cooler months. These results suggest that lower temperature and drier air are associated with increased risk of VA onset among implantable cardioverter-defibrillator patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA [2] Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA [3] Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Francine
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Laden
authors.affiliation: Cardiac Arrhythmia Service, Division of Cardiology, Tufts Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Mark S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Link
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA [2] Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA [3] Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Luttmann-Gibson
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA [2] Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA [3] Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Douglas W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Dockery
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000032:analysis; D001900:Boston / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003080:Cold Temperature; D017147:Defibrillators, Implantable; D005260:Female; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D006813:Humidity; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D017180:Tachycardia, Ventricular / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D014887:Weather; D055815:Young Adult