The phenomenon of thunderstorm asthma in Bavaria, Southern Germany: a statistical approach

ABSTRACT

Higher incidences of asthma during thunderstorms can pose a serious health risk. In this study, we estimate the thunderstorm asthma risk using statistical methods, with special focus on Bavaria, Southern Germany. In this approach, a dataset of asthma-related emergency cases for the study region is combined with meteorological variables and aeroallergen data to identify statistical relationships between the occurrence of asthma (predictand) and different environmental parameters (set of predictors). On the one hand, the results provide evidence for a weak but significant relationship between atmospheric stability indices and asthma emergencies in the region, but also show that currently thunderstorm asthma is not a major concern in Bavaria due to overall low incidences. As thunderstorm asthma can have severe consequences for allergic patients, the presented approach can be important for the development of emergency strategies in regions affected by thunderstorm asthma and under present and future climate change conditions.

KEYWORDS:

• Thunderstorm asthma
• seasonal asthma
• environment
• health

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Siemens AG for providing the lightning data and Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Bayerns (KVB), especially Mr.Bachetzky and Dr.Gerlach, for providing the asthma data. Both data sets were essential for this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research project is funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection (StMUV) as well as the Bavarian State Ministry of Health and Care (StMGP) within the scope of the compound project “climate change and health”.