Review
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World J Cardiol. Mar 26, 2022; 14(3): 152-169
Published online Mar 26, 2022. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v14.i3.152
Climatic influences on cardiovascular diseases
Maurizio Giuseppe Abrignani, Alberto Lombardo, Annabella Braschi, Nicolò Renda, Vincenzo Abrignani
Maurizio Giuseppe Abrignani, Alberto Lombardo, Operative Unit of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, S. Antonio Abate Hospital of Trapani, ASP Trapani, Trapani 91100, Italy
Annabella Braschi, Department of Internal Medicine, Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, Palermo 90100, Italy
Nicolò Renda, Department of Mental Health, ASP Trapani, Trapani 91100, Italy
Vincenzo Abrignani, School of Medicine, University of Bologna, Bologna 40126, Italy
Author contributions: Abrignani MG was responsible for the conception and design of the manuscript and he wrote the first original draft; Lombardo A, Braschi A, Renda N, and Abrignani V contributed to the design of the manuscript and in making critical revisions related to the important intellectual content of the manuscript; and all authors gave final approval of the version of the article to be published.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors have nothing to disclose.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Maurizio Giuseppe Abrignani, MD, Doctor, Operative Unit of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, S. Antonio Abate Hospital of Trapani, ASP Trapani, Trapani 91100, Italy. maur.abri@alice.it
Received: April 16, 2021
Peer-review started: April 16, 2021
First decision: July 27, 2021
Revised: August 23, 2021
Accepted: March 6, 2022
Article in press: March 6, 2022
Published online: March 26, 2022
Processing time: 339 Days and 22.8 Hours
Abstract

Classical risk factors only partially account for variations in cardiovascular disease incidence; therefore, also other so far unknown features, among which meteorological factors, may influence heart diseases (mainly coronary heart diseases, but also heart failure, arrhythmias, aortic dissection and stroke) rates. The most studied phenomenon is ambient temperature. The relation between mortality, as well as cardiovascular diseases incidence, and temperature appears graphically as a ‘‘U’’ shape. Exposure to cold, heat and heat waves is associated with an increased risk of acute coronary syndromes. Other climatic variables, such as humidity, atmospheric pressure, sunlight hours, wind strength and direction and rain/snow precipitations have been hypothesized as related to fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular diseases incidence. Main limitation of these studies is the unavailability of data on individual exposure to weather parameters. Effects of weather may vary depending on other factors, such as population disease profile and age structure. Climatic stress may increase direct and indirect risks to human health via different, complex pathophysiological pathways and exogenous and endogenous mechanisms. These data have attracted growing interest because of the recent earth’s climate change, with consequent increasing ambient temperatures and climatic fluctuations. This review evaluates the evidence base for cardiac health consequences of climate conditions, and it also explores potential further implications.

Keywords: Weather; Climate; Meteorology; Cardiovascular diseases; Myocardial infarction; Angina pectoris

Core Tip: Climatic stress may determine some risks to human health via complex pathophysiological pathways. Meteorological factors may influence coronary heart diseases, but also heart failure, arrhythmias, aortic dissection and stroke rates. The most studied phenomenon is temperature. The relation between mortality, as well as cardiovascular diseases incidence, and temperature appears graphically as a ‘‘U’’ shape. Other variables, such as humidity, atmospheric pressure, sunlight hours, wind strength and direction and rain/snow precipitations have been studied. These data have attracted growing interest because of the recent earth’s climate change. This review evaluates the evidence for cardiac health consequences of climate conditions.