The Association Between Meteorological Factors And The Incidence Of Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Objective To investigate the association between climatic or meteorological conditions and the incidence of Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (ISSHL).We analysised the seasonal distribution of ISSHL and evaluated the influence of meteorological parameters(such as temperature,atmospheric pressure, humidity,wind speed,rainfall and total hours of sunshine).Methods A total of 241 cases of ISSHL in Hefei urban,admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University,otolaryngology - head and neck surgery department over a five-year period from January 1,2002 to December 31, 2006,were enrolled in the study.Meteorological data included 20 daily and 12 monthly values of distinct parameters in the same period in Hefei urban.Using pearsonχ~2 test on the admission rate of ISSHL per season.A relationship between each meteorological variable and the incidence of ISSHL was investigated by applying Pearsonχ~2 test on data from 20 daily meteorological parameters as well as by using logistic regression and t-test approaches.In addition,the influence of different weather types on the incidence of ISSHL was investigated using Cluster Analysis in order to create five clusters(weather types).Moreover,After controlling for time trend effects,this study adopted the seasonal autoregressive integrated moving-average(SARIMA) models as a means of evaluating the effects of monthly meteorological parameters on SSNHL incidence rates,and predicting the incidence of ISSHL,to prevent and reduce the morbility of ISSHL.Results The age of 241 patients with ISSHL was characteristic by mediate aged and young people,there was no statistical difference in the terms of the sex(t=1.765, P=0.079).The disease had the high incidence in summer(June-August) when the patients accout for 31.95.Moreover,the peak value occured in July and August. However,the analysis of pearsonχ~2 demonstrated that there was no statistical difference in the terms of admission rate of ISSHL per season(χ~2=6.003,P=0.111). The relationship between each meteorological variable and the incidence of ISSHL was analyzed,the results showed that there was statistical significance in P,△P,△T,△Tmin.With the increasement of the Mean Atmospheric Pressure(P),Day-to-Day Change of Mean Atmospheric Pressure(△P),the risk of the morbility of ISSHL became lower.And with the increasement of the Day-to-Day Change of Mean Temperature(△T),Day-to-Day Change of Minimum Temperature(△Tmin),the risk became higher.When combined with the variable which was significant in the single-factor analysis,the multivariate analysis had been done in non-variable Logistic regression model,the results showed that there was statistical significant in△P,△Tmin.T-test analysis showed that there was statistical significance in the terms of the average value of T,△T,Tmin,△Tmin,P,Pmax,Pmin,RHmin between the cases group(patients) and the control group(non-patients).And the average value of Day-to-Day Change of Mean Temperature,Day-to-Day Change of Minimum Temperature of the control group(non-patients) was lower than that of the case group(patients).The Principal component analysis and Cluster Analysis showed there was no statistical significant in the association between per weather type and the incidence of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss.The seasonal autoregressive integrated moving-average(SARIMA) showed that monthly mean temperature,monthly mean relative humidity,monthly precipitation et al had the impact of the incidence of ISSHL to the lag of time,which had relationship with the incidence of ISSHL in the lag of three months.And the model(non-meteorological factors SARIMA model) forecast the incidence of ISSHL well,by which we can predict the incidence of ISSHL and make the forecast to prevent and reduce the occurrence of ISSHL. Conclusions The study found that the incidence of sudden ISSHL may be affected by the meteorological parameters of Day-to-Day Change of Mean Atmospheric Pressure(△P),the Day-to-Day Change of Mean Temperature(△T),et al. And the monthly mean temperature,monthly mean relative humidity,monthly precipitation and et al may possibly had the impact of the incidence of ISSHL on the lag time.