Correlation analysis between some blood properties and atmospheric environmental parameters

Abstract

S.W. Tromp made investigations of a weather effect on erythrocyte sedimentation rates (ESR) of human blood by routine checks of the blood of donor groups in Leiden from 1955 to 1985. A higher ESR was found for the summer season and lower ESR for winter and low values occurred soon after a strong cooling spell. In this report, we have continued his work using data for the years 1971–1985 from Leiden (The Netherlands). An influence of the weather on ESR was also found, but this seems to be more complicated than Tromp supposed. Some new aspects are described and elaborated, e.g. ESR already increases before warming is noticed at the ground layer. This is possibly caused by changes in the upper atmosphere, a suggestion that requires further studies. For periods of low ESR, there was a greater number of occlusion fronts passing the Netherlands. The long-term fluctuations of ESR that were found were correlated with sun spot relative numbers only in a few periods. The results of our study justify further research for a variety of other locations around the world.