[Effect of meteorological variations on the emergence of deep venous thrombosis of the leg].

INTRODUCTION

Recent articles have established a significant relationship between metereology variables and the development of vascular disease. We performed a retrospective study to determine relationships between the development of deep vein thrombosis in the lower limb and certain meteorology variables.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We identified 345 cases of phlebitis in 1995. We studied the distribution of the number of venous thrombosis per day, per month and per season. We compared certain meteorological data (atmospheric pressure, temperature, mean hygrometery) for days with and days without venous thrombosis and the atmospheric variations during the 48 hours prior to venous thrombosis.

RESULTS

There was a significant relationship (p < 0.004) between the mean number of cases of phlebitis recorded per day and season with winter predominating. On days when phlebitis occurred, the atmospheric pressure was significantly lower (p < 0.05). The number of thrombotic events was significantly different on days when the variation was greater than 10 hectopascals than on days when the variation was less than 10 hectopascals (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

In our study, deep vein thrombosis of the lower limb was significantly associated with certain meteorology variables. Prospective multicentric studies are needed to confirm these relationships.