To test the a priori hypothesis that the association between cold spells and ischaemic sudden cardiac death (SCD) is modified by the severity of coronary stenosis.
The home coordinates of 2572 autopsy-verified cases of ischaemic SCD aged =35 in the Province of Oulu, Finland, were linked to 51 years of weather data. Cold spell was statistically defined for each home address as unusually cold weather pertinent to the location and time of year. We estimated the occurrence of cold spells during the hazard period (7 days preceding death) and reference periods (the same calendar days over 51 years) in a case-crossover setting applying conditional logistic regression, controlling for temporal trends and stratifying by severity of coronary stenosis.
The association between cold spells and ischaemic SCD was stronger among patients with 75%-95% stenosis (OR 2.03; 95%?CI 1.31 to 3.17), and weaker to non-existent among patients with
Notes
Cites: J Am Coll Cardiol. 2005 Oct 18;46(8):1425-33 PMID 16226165
Cites: Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1984 Nov 24;289(6456):1405-8 PMID 6437575
Cites: Am J Hypertens. 2014 May;27(5):656-64 PMID 23964061