Weather patterns and asthma epidemics in New York City and New Orleans,U.S.A.

Twenty-five years of data on asthmatic attacks in New Orleans (covering approximately 170,000 asthma attacks) have been analyzed to identify asthma epidemic days, defined as days on which an unusually high number of asthmatic individuals had attacks. Similar data covering three years was obtained for New York City. A preliminary examination of detailed meteoroligical data revealed a consistent meteorological pattern preceding and associated with such asthma epidemic days which consisted of a cold front preceding an asthma epidemic by one to three days followed by a high pressure system. The significance of these meteorological findings and their relationship to other environmental agents such as natural or man-made atmospheric pollutants that are likely to be associated with asthma attacks will be discussed.Presented at the Eighth International Congress of Biometeorology, 9–14 September 1979, Shefayim, Israel.