Weather changes may be linked with stroke hospitalization, death

AHA: February 12, 2014

Study Highlights:

• Stroke hospitalization and death rates may be associated with changes in environmental temperature and dew point.
• Large daily temperature changes and higher average dew points may be linked with higher stroke hospitalizations.

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 12, 2014 — Stroke hospitalization and death rates may rise and fall with changes in environmental temperature and dew point, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2014.

“Weather is not something people would typically associate with stroke risk; however, we’ve found weather conditions are among the multiple factors that are associated with stroke hospitalizations,” said Judith H. Lichtman, Ph.D., M.P.H., study author and an associate professor in Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, Conn.

Researchers identified a nationwide sample of 134,510 people, 18 years and older, admitted to hospitals in 2009-10 for ischemic stroke (caused by a blood clot that blocks blood flow in or leading to the brain). They then obtained temperature and dew point data during that period. Read more