Associations between Space Weather Events and the Incidence of Acute Myocardial Infarction and Deaths from Ischemic Heart Disease

• Published in: Atmosphere Vol. 12; no. 3; p. 306
• Main Authors: Vaičiulis, Vidmantas, Venclovienė, Jonė, Tamošiūnas, Abdonas, Kiznys, Deivydas, Lukšienė, Dalia, Krančiukaitė-Butylkinienė, Daina, Radišauskas, Ričardas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-03-2021
• Subjects: acute myocardial infarction; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular diseases; Cardiovascular system; Coronal mass ejection; Coronary artery disease; Data analysis; Earth magnetosphere; Fatalities; geomagnetic storm; Geomagnetic storms; Geomagnetism; Heart attacks; Heart diseases; Hospitals; Ischemia; ischemic heart disease; Magnetic storms; Men; Morbidity; Myocardial infarction; Population; Solar corona; Solar cycle; Solar flares; solar proton event; Solar protons; Solar storms; Solar wind; Solar wind velocity; Space weather; Statistical analysis; Storms; Women
• ISSN: 2073-4433; 2073-4433
• DOI: 10.3390/atmos12030306

The effects of charged solar particles hitting the Earth’s magnetosphere are often harmful and can be dangerous to the human organism. The aim of this study was to analyze the associations of geomagnetic storms (GSs) and other space weather events (solar proton events (SPEs), solar flares (SFs), high-speed solar wind (HSSW), interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) and stream interaction regions (SIRs)) with morbidity from acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and mortality from ischemic heart diseases (IHDs) during the period 2000–2015 in Kaunas (Lithuania). In 2000–2015, 12,330 AMI events (men/women n = 6942/5388) and 3742 deaths from IHD (men/women n = 2480/1262) were registered. The results showed that a higher risk of AMI and deaths from IHD were related to the period of 3 days before GS—a day after GS, and a stronger effect was observed during the spring–autumn period. The strongest effect of HSSW was observed on the day of the event. We found significant associations between the risk of AMI and death from IHD and the occurrence of SFs during GSs. We also found a statistically significant increase in rate ratios (RRs) for all AMIs and deaths from IHD between the second and fourth days of the period of ICMEs.