Acute Myocardial Infarction Hospitalizations between Cold and Hot Seasons in an Island across Tropical and Subtropical Climate Zones—A Population-Based Study

Abstract

We investigated the effects of cold and hot seasons on hospital admissions for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) at the junction of tropical and subtropical climate zones. The hospitalization data of 6897 AMI patients from January 1997 to December 2011 were obtained from the database of the National Health Insurance, including date of admission, gender, age, and comorbidities of hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM), and dyslipidemia. A comparison of AMI prevalence between seasons and the association of season-related AMI occurrences with individual variables were assessed. AMI hospitalizations in the cold season (cold-season-AMIs) were significantly greater than those in the hot season (OR 1.15; 95% CI 1.10–1.21). In the subtropical region, cold-season-AMIs were strongly and significantly associated with the ≥65 years group (OR1.28; 95% CI 1.11 to 1.48). In the tropical region, cold-season-AMIs, in association with dyslipidemia relative to non-dyslipidemia, were significantly strong in the non-DM group (OR 1.45; 95% CI 1.01 to 2.09) but weak in the DM group (OR 0.74; 95% CI 0.55 to 0.99). The cold season shows increased risks for AMI, markedly among the ≥65 years cohort in the subtropical region, and among the patients diagnosed with either DM or dyslipidemia but not both in the tropical region. Age and comorbidity of metabolic dysfunction influence the season-related incidences of AMI in different climatic regions.