Analysis of meteorological data and hospitalizations for pneumonia in the city of Santarém – PA

Abstract

In the present study, we sought to identify possible associations between hospital admissions for pneumonia and meteorological variables in the municipality of Santarém-PA. For this purpose, analyzes were carried out on the variability of meteorological data on air temperature, precipitation and relative humidity for the period from 2008 to 2021 and possible associations with hospitalizations due to pneumonia in the same period in the study area. Meteorological data were obtained in the form of monthly averages through the Meteorological Database for Teaching (BDMEP) and Research of the National Institute of Meteorology (INMET) and hospitalization data through the Department of Informatics of the Unified Health System (DATASUS), listed by place of residence, and the statistical techniques used were linear regression analysis and multiple linear regression. Among the coefficients of determination obtained in the linear regression analysis, those between maximum temperature and pneumonia with values ​​of R² = 0.47 in May, R² = 0.53 in August and R² = 0.42 in September and those between relative humidity and pneumonia, with values ​​of R² = 0.38 in the average of April and R² = 0.35 in December. With the aid of multiple regression, the value of R²=0.84 was found, demonstrating the synergistic effect of weather conditions and the disease. The distribution of these associations over these different months points to the role of the typical seasonality of dry and rainy periods in the region, and its possible impacts on respiratory diseases such as pneumonia in the municipality of Santarém.