Incidence of acute-onset atrial fibrillation correlates with air temperature. Results of a nine-year survey

ABSTRACT

Some diseases, such as renal colic, stroke, and myocardial infarction, correlate with seasonality and microclimatic variations. Although evidence is limited and controversial, a correlation between acute-onset atrial fibrillation [AAF] and seasonality has been previously reported. In order to elucidate the possible correlations between weather and incidence of AAF in a country with a temperate climate, the influence of day-by-day climate changes was analyzed based on the number of visits for AAF [defined as onset of symptoms within 48 h] in a large urban Emergency Department [ED] of northern Italy. All the episodes of AAF were retrieved from the hospital's electronic database during a period of 3287 days [January 2002 to December 2010]. Only the cases whose onset occurred within 48 h from the ED visit were selected. The total number of ED visits was 725, 812 throughout the observational period. Among these, 3633 AAF cases were observed, 52% of which were males. A slight but significant negative linear correlation was found between the number of AAFs and the daily temperature [R = -0.60; p = 0.001]. No correlation was found between the number of AAFs and the daily humidity [R = -0.07; p = 0.2]