Seasonal and short-term relationships of temperature with deaths from myocardial and cerebral infarction.

In subjects over 60, changes in temperature lasting two or more days are associated with highly significant changes in death rates from myocardial infarction and cerbral vascular accidents. In both cases, the lower the temperature the higher the death rate and vice versa. Moreover the temperatures one to four days prior to the clinical onset of infarction are more relevant than that on the day of onset, a fact which may have a bearing on prophylaxis. In the case of strokes, a high temperature on the day of onset is also associated with an increase in deaths on that day. The relevance of these findings to possible mechanisms and prophylaxis is discussed.