The associations of geomagnetic storms, fast solar wind, and stream interaction regions with cardiovascular characteristic in patients with acute coronary syndrome.

It is shown the statistical associations between space weather pattern and humans' cardiovascular system. We investigated the association between space weather events and cardiovascular characteristics of 4076 randomly selected patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) who were admitted for inpatient treatment in Kaunas city, Lithuania during 2000-2005. We hypothesized that days of the space weather events, 1-3 days after, and the period between two events, named as intersection days (1-3 days after the event, which coincided with 1-3 days before the event), might be associated with patients' cardiovascular characteristics. The multivariate logistic regression was applied, and the patients' risk was evaluated by odds ratio (OR), adjusting for age, sex, smoking status, the day of the week, and seasonality. During the intersection days of geomagnetic storms (GS), the risk of ACS increases in obese patients (OR=1.72, p = 0.008). The risk of ventricular fibrillation during admission was associated with stream interaction region (SIR) with a lag of 0-3 days (OR=1.44, p = 0.049) The risk of ACS in patients with chronic atrial fibrillation was associated with fast solar wind (FSW) (≥600 km/s) (lag 0-3 days, OR=1.39, p = 0.030) and with days of solar proton event (lag 0-3) going in conjunction with SIR (lag 0-3) (OR=2.06, p = 0.021). During days which were not assigned as GS with a lag of (-3 to 3) days, FSW (lag 0-3) was associated with the risk of ACS in patients with renal disease (OR=1.71, p = 0.008) and days of SIR - with the risk in patients with pulmonary disease (OR=1.53, p = 0.021). A SIR event, days between two space weather events, and FSW without GS may be associated with a risk to human health.

Associations between Quasi-biennial Oscillation phase, solar wind, geomagnetic activity, and the incidence of acute myocardial infarction.

An increase in the daily rate of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has been observed during days of geomagnetic storm (GS). However, the analysis of associations between the daily number of AMI and geomagnetic activity (GMA) over longer periods sometimes yields controversial results. The study aimed to detect the complex association between the daily numbers of AMI and weather, the Quasi-biennial Oscillation (QBO) phase, GMA, and solar wind variables. We used data of Kaunas population-based Ischemic Heart Disease Register of residents of Kaunas city (Lithuania) for 2000-2012. The associations between weather and space weather variables and the daily number of AMI were evaluated by applying the multivariate Poisson regression. A higher risk of AMI was positively associated with active-stormy local GMA (rate ratio (RR) = 1.06 (95% CI 1.01-1.10)), solar wind dynamic pressure with a lag of 4 days (RR = 1.02 (1.01-1.04) per 1 nPa increase), and solar wind speed with a lag of 3-7 days (RR = 1.03 (1.01-1.05) per 100 km/s increase). A positive association was found between the west QBO phase and the risk of AMI during winter (RR = 1.08 (1.01-1.16)), and a negative association was observed between them during March-November (RR = 0.93 (0.90-0.97)). The risk of AMI positively associated with the GS due to stream interaction regions with a lag of 0-2 days during the east QBO phase (RR = 1.10, p = 0.046) and was negatively associated with them during the west QBO phase (RR = 0.82, p = 0.024). These results may help understand the population's sensitivity under different weather and space weather conditions. The QBO phase may modify the effect of GS.

A possible association between space weather conditions and the risk of acute coronary syndrome in patients with diabetes and the metabolic syndrome.

Hyperglycemia negatively affects cardiovascular variables that are also adversely affected by increased geomagnetic activity. It is likely that geomagnetic storms (GS) could have a stronger negative impact on these patients. We analyzed data on 1548 randomly selected patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) who were admitted inpatient treatment in Kaunas city, during 2000-2003. We evaluated the associations of GS, solar proton events (SPE), and high-speed solar wind (HSSW) (solar wind speed ≥600 km/s) with the risk of ACS in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and the metabolic syndrome (MS) by using logistic regression with categorical predictors. During days of HSSW, the risk of ACS in DM patients increased by 1.95 times (OR = 1.95, 95 % CI 1.36-2.79) as compared to days without either of these events or 2 days prior to or after them. In the multivariate model, the risk of ACS in DM patients was associated with days of HSSW and 1-2 days after (OR = 1.40, 95 % CI 1.01-1.93), with days of GS lasting >1 day and occurring on days of HSSW or 1-2 days after (OR = 2.31, 95 % CI 1.28-4.17), and with the onset of SPE (OR = 2.72 (1.09-6.83)). The risk of ACS in MS patients was associated with days of GS and 1-2 days prior or after GS (OR = 1.31 (1.00-1.73)); an additional impact was established if these days coincided with days of HSSW or 1-2 days before (OR = 2.16 (1.39-3.35)). These findings suggest that not only GS but also HSSW and changes in space weather conditions prior to SPE affect the human cardiovascular system.