Department of Thoracic Surgery, Mackay Memorial Hospital, and Department and Institute of Physiology, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Respirology. 2010 Feb;15(2):296-302. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1843.2009.01684.x. Epub 2010 Jan 11.
This study investigated seasonal variation in the incidence of spontaneous pneumothorax (SP) among young adults aged 15-44 years, in order to identify possible associations with meteorological parameters in a subtropical Asian climate. Neither particular months nor seasons of the year were significantly associated with the incidence of SP.
While links between meteorological conditions and the incidence of spontaneous pneumothorax (SP) have been postulated, the findings are controversial. In this first large-scale, nationwide, population-based study, seasonal variation in the incidence of SP among young adults aged 15-44 years was investigated, in order to identify possible associations with meteorological parameters (rainfall, ambient temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, hours of sunshine) in a subtropical Asian climate.
Data (2001-2005) from the National Health Insurance Research Database were used to identify a total of 8575 patients who had been hospitalized with a principal diagnosis of SP. The autoregressive integrated moving average method was used to evaluate the effects of seasonality and monthly climatic factors on the incidence of SP.
The incidence of SP was not significantly associated with either particular months of the year or seasons. After adjusting for seasonality, month and time trends, relative humidity was positively associated with the monthly incidence of SP among men, while ambient temperature and rainfall were significantly associated with SP events among women. However, changes in monthly atmospheric pressure did not appear to influence the monthly risk of SP.
These results do not support the premise that seasonal factors are involved in precipitating SP, although certain climatic parameters showed weak associations with the incidence of SP. Future studies should investigate other combinations of weather phenomena and potential triggering factors, in order to shed light on the occurrence of SP in various regions and climatic conditions, and among both men and women.
本研究旨在探讨亚 热带亚洲气候中青年人群（15-44 岁）自发性气胸（SP）发病的季节性变化，以明确其与气象参数之间可能的相关性。
利用国家健康保险研究数据库（2001-2005 年）中的数据，共确定了 8575 例因 SP 而住院的患者。采用自回归积分滑动平均模型评估季节性和每月气象因素对 SP 发病的影响。
SP 的发病与每年特定月份或季节均无显著相关性。在调整季节性、月份和时间趋势后，男性 SP 的月发病率与相对湿度呈正相关，而女性 SP 事件与环境温度和降雨量显著相关。然而，每月大气压的变化似乎并未影响 SP 的月度发病风险。
这些结果不支持季节因素与 SP 发病有关的假设，但某些气象参数与 SP 的发病率之间存在微弱的关联。未来的研究应进一步探讨其他天气现象和潜在触发因素的组合，以阐明不同地区和气候条件下以及男性和女性中 SP 的发生机制。
