{"doi":"10.1016/j.jacadv.2024.101463","title":"Effects of Extreme Humidity and Heat on Ventricular Arrhythmia Risk in Patients With Cardiac Devices","abstract":"Background: Climate change is increasing the frequency of high heat and high humidity days. Whether these conditions can trigger ventricular arrhythmias [ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation, VT/VF] in susceptible persons is unknown. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between warm-season weather conditions and risk of VT/VF in individuals with pacemakers and defibrillators. Methods: Baseline clinical and device data from 5,944 patients in North Carolina (2010-2021) were linked to daily weather data geocoded to individuals' residential addresses. Associations between extreme humidity, temperature, and VT/VF overall and by patient, community, and built environment factors were estimated using a case time-series design with distributed lag nonlinear models, adjusting for temporal trends and individual factors. Results: VT/VF events occurred on 4,486 of the 484,988 person-days. Extreme humidity (95th percentile: 90% relative humidity) increased odds of VT/VF in the 7 days following exposure (aOR 1.23 [95% CI: 1.00-1.51]). Humidity-associated VT/VF risk was highest among those who were male (aOR: 1.38 [95% CI: 1.08-1.76]), age 67 to 75 years (aOR: 1.65 [95% CI: 1.16-2.35]) with coronary artery disease (aOR: 1.79 [95% CI: 1.25-2.57]), heart failure (aOR: 1.72 [95% CI: 1.2-2.46]), diabetes (aOR: 3.01 [95% CI: 1.99-4.56]), hypertension (aOR: 2.06 [95% CI: 1.48-2.88]), and prior myocardial infarction (aOR: 1.75 [95% CI: 1.23-2.48]). Communities with high socioeconomic deprivation (aOR: 1.83 [95% CI: 1.28-2.62]), high income inequality (aOR: 1.56 [95% CI: 1.19-2.04]), and urban areas with less greenspace (aOR: 1.29 [95% CI: 0.93-1.78]) also had increased VT/VF risk. High temperatures were not associated with VT/VF. Conclusions: In patients with preexisting cardiovascular disease, exposure to extreme humidity increased VT/VF risk, especially among vulnerable individuals, disadvantaged communities, and urban areas with less green space. These findings emphasize the need for policies that address environmental risks in susceptible individuals and communities.","journal":"JACC Advances","year":2024,"id":449729,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":5,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9616,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2024-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1269549,"name":"Stephanie E. Cleland","orcid":"0000-0003-1912-8349","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1269550,"name":"K. Lloyd Hill","orcid":"0009-0000-0091-7001","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":703784,"name":"Anthony J. Mazzella","orcid":"0000-0003-2036-9254","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":267321,"name":"Wayne E. Cascio","orcid":"0000-0003-1360-8093","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":516740,"name":"Ana G. Rappold","orcid":"0000-0002-7696-0900","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":323290,"name":"Lindsey Rosman","orcid":"0000-0002-0944-6864","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":351918,"name":"Corinna Keeler","orcid":"0000-0002-3445-6589","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":52,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:02:20.585759Z","pmid":"39759433","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}