Meteorological factors and psychiatric emergencies

Abstract

Introduction. Studies conducted in the psychiatric setting and related with biometeorology generally coincide that there is a seasonal rhythm between seasons and depressive disorders, violent suicides and manic episodes. However, there are many discrepancies about the correlation of specific meteorological variables with the remaining clinical pictures. This work has aimed to study a wide sample of psychiatric cases in this area (Baix Camp/Tarragona) to see whether there is a relationship between meteorological variables and the total number of daily emergencies.

Method. We recorded the data of 3,048 cases attended in the Emergency Department of the Hospital Pere Mata de Reus (Tarragona) from January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2005. The possible relationship between the number of daily visits and different meteorological end-points (such as wind direction and speed, temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure and solar radiation) were analyzed statistically.

Results. The results were statistically significant for the meteorological endpoints of medium temperature (TMED), maximum temperature (TMAX) and minimum temperature (TMIN). The relationship between humidity and number of daily visits was also statistically significant (non-linear form). The remaining comparisons did not reach statistical significance.

Conclusions. The main conclusion of our study is that there is a direct relationship between environmental temperature increase and the number of patients attended in the hospital emergency department. A relationship could also be observed in regards to humidity. This fact may suggest the need to have suitable medical attendance planning for the hottest and most humid periods.