Effect of environmental factors on the spatio-temporal patterns of influenza spread

Although spatio-temporal patterns of influenza spread often suggest that environmental factors play a role, their effect on the geographical variation in the timing of annual epidemics has not been assessed. We examined the effect of solar radiation, dew point, temperature and geographical position...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Epidemiology and infection 2009-10, Vol.137 (10), p.1377-1387
Main Authors: CHARLAND, K. M. L., BUCKERIDGE, D. L., STURTEVANT, J. L., MELTON, F., REIS, B. Y., MANDL, K. D., BROWNSTEIN, J. S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Biological and medical sciences
Candidates
Child
Child, Preschool
Cities
Climate
Climate models
Climatology
Codes
Data Interpretation, Statistical
Dew point
Environment
Epidemics
Epidemiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
geographical position
Humans
Humidity
Immune system
Infant
Infections
Influenza
Influenza and Respiratory Tract Infections
Influenza, Human - epidemiology
Influenza, Human - transmission
Information systems
Laboratories
meteorological variables
Microbiology
Middle Aged
Orthomyxoviridae
Pediatrics
Precipitation
Radiation
Regions
Respiratory diseases
Respiratory syncytial virus
Seasons
Solar radiation
Solar temperature
Temperature
Time Factors
United States - epidemiology
Viruses
Winter
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Although spatio-temporal patterns of influenza spread often suggest that environmental factors play a role, their effect on the geographical variation in the timing of annual epidemics has not been assessed. We examined the effect of solar radiation, dew point, temperature and geographical position on the city-specific timing of epidemics in the USA. Using paediatric in-patient data from hospitals in 35 cities for each influenza season in the study period 2000–2005, we determined ‘epidemic timing’ by identifying the week of peak influenza activity. For each city we calculated averages of daily climate measurements for 1 October to 31 December. Bayesian hierarchical models were used to assess the strength of association between each variable and epidemic timing. Of the climate variables only solar radiation was significantly related to epidemic timing (95% CI −0·027 to −0·0032). Future studies may elucidate biological mechanisms intrinsically linked to solar radiation that contribute to epidemic timing in temperate regions.
ISSN:0950-2688
1469-4409
DOI:10.1017/S0950268809002283