Association between apparent temperature and hypertension hospital admissions: a case study in rural areas in western China.

Introduction and objective: Although it has previously been shown that temperature is associated with cardiovascular disease, no investigations exploring the association between apparent temperature (AT) and hypertension in farmers in Zhangye and Longnan, Gansu Province, China, have been undertaken. As hypertension is a commonly known risk factor for cardiovascular disease, the relationship between apparent temperature (AT) and hypertension is examined in Zhangye and Longnan to provide advice to local governments on preventive measures.

Material and methods: Daily data and weather conditions were collected in Zhangye and Longnan from 2014-2015. The Poisson generalized linear model and the distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) were combined to investigate the relationship between AT and hypertension in hospital admissions in the study areas.

Results: A non-linear relationship between AT and hypertension in hospital admissions in both Zhangye and Longnan were recorded. The cold effects were stronger in Zhangye than that in Longnan for both study group and subgroups. The heat effects were more deleterious for the entire study group, female subgroup and adult subgroup in Longnan, but stronger for the male subgroup and elderly subgroup in Zhangye.

Conclusions: This investigation indicates that AT has adverse impacts on hypertension hospital admissions in Zhangye and Longnan, especially under low AT exposure levels. The results from this study may promote the formulation of further prevention measures for hypertension disease.