Temporal analysis of hospital admissions for flu and pneumonia associated with meteorological variables in the Municipality of São Paulo, SP

Abstract

This study investigated the association of meteorological elements (minimum relative air humidity and daily maximum and minimum temperatures) with hospitalizations for respiratory morbidities (pneumonia and influenza) based on hospital reports for all age groups of the population of the city of Sao Paulo using the statistical technique of linear regression. The incidence of daily hospitalization of people with respiratory problems from the Unified Health System (SUS), specifically for influenza and pneumonia, was correlated with daily meteorological data from the meteorological station of the Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics of the University of São Paulo/USP from January 2002 to December 2005. From the annual charts of the entire study period, we observed a certain trend towards increased hospitalizations when maximum and minimum temperatures increased and the minimum relative humidity of the air decreased up to 7 days prior to admission peaks. However, results from linear regression tests indicated a low correlation between the number of hospitalizations for influenza and pneumonia for almost the entire period. Only between July and September 2004 were moderate correlations observed, considering that 47% of hospitalizations for influenza and pneumonia were associated with an increase in minimum temperatures and 35% of the maximum temperatures, coinciding with the driest periods for the year 2004. Between 2002 and 2005, the most vulnerable groups in the populations were children up to 4 years of age and the elderly 60 years and older.