Relationships between sudden weather changes in summer and mortality in the Czech Republic, 1986–2005

0351227 - ÚFA 2011 RIV DE eng J - Journal Article
Plavcová, Eva - Kyselý, Jan
Relationships between sudden weather changes in summer and mortality in the Czech Republic, 1986–2005.
International Journal of Biometeorology. Roč. 54, č. 5 (2010), s. 539-551. ISSN 0020-7128. E-ISSN 1432-1254
R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/07/1254
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z30420517
Keywords : Mortality * Sudden change * Air temperature * Air pressure * Atmospheric front * Central Europe
Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology
Impact factor: 1.805, year: 2010

The study examines relations between sudden changes in weather conditions in summer, represented by (i) sudden air temperature changes, (ii) sudden atmospheric pressure changes, and (iii) passages of strong atmospheric fronts, and variations in daily mortality in the population of the Czech Republic. The events are selected from data covering 1986-2005 and compared with the database of daily excess all-cause mortality. We find a significant increase of mortality after large temperature increases and on days of large pressure drops, and a decrease of mortality after large temperature drops, pressure increases, and passages of strong cold fronts. The mortality effects are usually more pronounced in the age group 70 years and more. The impacts associated with large negative changes of pressure are statistically independent of the effects of temperature; the corresponding dummy variable is found to be a significant predictor in the ARIMA model for relative deviations of mortality.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0191027