Quantifying the Influence of Climatic Variables on the Incidence of Diseases in Salvador-BA

In recent years, climate change and its impacts on human health have been the subject of intense discussions in the scientific literature worldwide. Although there is evidence relating climate variations to the occurrence of some pathologies, identification of diseases mostly due to fluctuations in climate variables over time, is still a gap to be filled. In this study, we measured the association between the variables: precipitation, air temperature, relative humidity and radiation and the incidence of the following diseases: dengue, viral hepatitis, leptospirosis, malaria, meningitis, hepatitis and tuberculosis in Salvador-BA through the cross-correlation coefficient and Granger’s causality test. Results found indicated the existence of a cross-correlation in large temporal and causality between the time series analyzed.