Relationship Between Upper Gastrointestinal Tract Bleeding And Seasonal Meteorological Parameters

ABSTRACT Introduction: Determining the relationship between seasons, circadian rhythm and weather has been addressed in many studies since triggering factors may contribute to the incidence of diseases. Objective: We sought to investigate the association between meteorological factors and the occurrence of peptic ulcer bleeding. Methods: This study was conducted retrospectively, endoscopic reports, gender, day, month, year and season of admission were recorded in patients with peptic ulcer-related gastrointestinal bleeding. Throughout the study period, data on daily average temperature (°C), daily average atmospheric pressure (mb), daily average relative humidity (%), and maximum wind speed (m/s) were analyzed and compared. Results: Endoscopy was performed in 176 patients with upper intestinal bleeding. 67% (n=118) of the patients were male. The average age of the patients was 59.87±19.19 years. The highest number of patients was found in winter (n=54, 30.7%) and highest number was found in March (n=20, 11.40%). However, there was no significant variation in proportion of patients admitted across different seasons (p=0.109). In addition, regression analysis revealed that daily meteorological parameters alone had no effect on upper gastrointestinal bleeding due to peptic ulcer. Conclusion: The highest number of patients was found to be in winter and the lowest in spring. However, while a negative correlation was observed between the number of patient admissions and mean air temperature, this correlation was not statistically significant. There was a positive correlation between daily mean relative humidity and daily mean atmospheric air pressure, but meteorological parameters alone were not effective in the number of patients admitted with gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB). Keyswords: Meteorology, Gastrointestinal bleeding, Peptic Ulcer.