Impacts of Climatic Seasonal Variations on Cardiovascular Diseases: A Prospective Sahelian Study in Niger with an Overview in Different Areas of the World

Abstract

This chapter reveals the impact of seasonal climatic variations on cardiovascular pathologies at HNABD. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) refers to the disorders that affects the heart and blood vessels. It is an important public health issue because they constitute the most reported cases for death across the world. This is a prospective and comparative study which has done over four months between the cold season (January- February) and the hot season (April-May) 2016. It took place over four months in the HNABD medicine- cardiology department. The study population consists of all patients hospitalized in the department during the period. It concerned 258 patients hospitalized in the medicine-cardiology department during this period in whom the diagnosis of cardiovascular pathologies has been made. Through this work, we have studied the epidemiological, clinical, paraclinical, therapeutic, evolutionary aspects and finally the impact of climatic and seasonal variations on cardiovascular pathologies. Data collection was manual, through providing an individual survey form. Data analysis and processing were carried out using Word 2010, EXCEL 2010, CSPro6.2, IBM SPSS 20.

Epidemiologically, cardiovascular pathologies account for 55.60% of admissions to the department. We note a male predominance with 53.10% against 46.90% for the female sex. The average age was 55.17 years. The age group over 60 years is the most affected with 54.25%. The cardiovascular disease admission rate was 43.41% in the cold season compared to 56.59% in the hot season. Clinically, the most frequent diagnoses were heart failure, stroke and hypertension with 47.28%, respectively; 24.03%; and 8.91%. From a therapeutic standpoint, the protocol used is largely based on diuretics, CE inhibitors and antiplatelet agents. From an evolutionary standpoint, the course is favorable in 81.79% of patients. The death rate is 14.34% with a peak of deaths during the hot season. Thus we found 24 deaths, a mortality rate of 16.43% and 64.86% of total deaths in the hot season. Indeed, the temperature rises lead to an increase in admissions but also in mortality linked to cardiovascular diseases. In conclusion, it was mentioned that the climate could play an important role in the morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular pathologies with seasonal variations depending from abruptness of the variation, the gap of this variations, the age of the patients, the cardiovascular status and its past medical history and some environmental factors. Therefore, the world should unite to galvanize action towards solutions for climate adaptation putting Health at the Center of the Climate Agenda.