Association between weather conditions and the incidence of emergency gynecological consultations

Objective: Th is study examined the influence of weather conditions on the incidence of outpatient emergency consultations at the Department of Obstet rics and Gynecology at the Regional Hospital in Lugano, Switzerland, Study Design: The medical records of all women who attended the outpatient emerge ncy unit at the Department for Obstetrics and Gynecology over the 1-year st udy period were reviewed. The final diagnosis was pelvic pain of unidentifi ed origin in 180 cases, menorrhagia and/or metrorrhagia in 95 cases, threat ened abortion in 56 cases and spontaneous abortion in 54 cases, The meteoro logical factors considered were atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and global radiation. A logistic regression model was used to correlate th e occurrence of symptoms with the chosen weather factors. Results: High mea n daily temperature was found to be a significant predictor of pelvic pain (p < 0.001). A rise in barometric pressure compared to the previous day inc reased the probability of menorrhagia and/or metrorrhagia (p = 0.001), High er minimal temperature (p = 0.011) and an increase in atmospheric pressure (p < 0.006) were identified as positive predictors of threatened abortion. None of the meteorological factors considered seemed to influence the frequ ency of spontaneous abortions. Conclusion: Meteorological factors such as t emperature and barometric change appear to affect the probability of emerge ncy admissions for gynecological symptoms including uterine bleeding, threa tened abortion and pelvic pain. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.