INFLUENCE OF POLAR AIR MASSES AND THE WORSENING OF RESPIRATORY DISEASES, ASTHMA AND PNEUMONIA, IN RIO CLARO/SP, BETWEEN 2015 AND 2023.

• Grant number: 25/02109-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: April 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Physical Geography
• Principal Investigator: Karime Pechutti Fante
• Grantee: Marcelo Henrique de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas (IGCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The climate influences the environment in several ways, while "man influences the climate through his activities". Human physiology responds, in the short or long term, to meteorological changes, whose sharp temperature variations are decisive in the worsening of various temperatures. Respiratory diseases such as Asthma (J45) and Pneumonia (J12-J18) stand out as pathologies that are aggravated by sharp drops in temperature amid the action of the Atlantic Polar Mass (mPa) over national territory. In general, days when the action of polar air masses is dominant, coming after the passage of cold fronts, in addition to low temperatures, remain: high atmospheric pressure, a drop in relative humidity, little or no precipitation, occurrence of fog and a drop in wind speed. In human health, extremely low temperatures reduce the human body's resistance to infection, where infectious diseases spread more quickly during the cold season, affecting the most vulnerable populations more, with greater morbidity in preschool children and higher mortality in the elderly. However, the exact relationship between cold fronts, cold waves and the action of the Atlantic Polar Mass on diseases of the respiratory system remains with old studies in the city of Rio Claro, where this research aims to understand and investigate how the current climate regime (with emphasis on extreme winter events) affects the epidemiological behavior of respiratory diseases in the population, with a focus on preparing society for these events amid new climate regimes. To obtain the expected results, we will use the Rhythmic Analysis methodology to identify the types of atmospheric weather present in the chosen period and monitor its rhythm together with the processing of data present in DATASUS, identification of cold waves through the criteria of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Pearson Correlation Coefficient to verify if there is a correlation between the days with the action of the Polar Mass system and the days in which respiratory diseases appear, seeking to fill the existing gaps within the contemporary scientific bibliography.