METEOROLOGICAL VARIABLES AND THEIR INCIDENCE IN RESPIRATORY DISEASES OF CHILDREN IN GREATER BUENOS AIRES
Adelia Perla Alessandro
Dto de Cs. de la Atmosfera y los Oceanos.Fac. Cs. Ex. y Nat,.UBA
Manuscript received on 20 December 2012, in final form on 24 September 2013
ABSTRACT
This paper aims at improving knowledge on the distribution of patients less or equal than 14 years with respiratory diseases (N) in the greater Buenos Aires in the period 08/04 -08/11, and providing a preliminary assessment of the relationship between atmospheric conditions and those pathologies. To this effect, medical records from a medical services firm were examined, as well as temperature data (daily, maximum, minimum, 2 dew point), pressure and relative humidity, measured at the meteorological station of Ezeiza (34,49-58,32). The largest number occurs in patients younger than 1 year and the range of patients less or equal than 4 years. The analysis revealed a strong seasonal relationship, with a peak in winter (low temperatures) and a minimum in summer. The best correlations were observed between daily and monthly values of all ages of patients and temperature data (average, maximum, minimum, dew point). Multiple correlation equations obtained with the Stepwise method made it possible to estimate the expected number of patients on daily and monthly scales with errors between 15.9-19.9 and 11,8-13.3 respectively. Over the greater Buenos Aires and surrounding areas, and for children of up to 4 years of age, mean geopotential height fields at 1000 hPa corresponding to days with the lowest number of patients (0 or 1 patient) respond to the mean field, while the composite of the maximum registry of patients (greater or equal to 69) present a positive geopotential height anomalies between 20 and 60 mgp. These differences weaken as the frequency of daily patients decreases.