2026 Volume 29 Issue 2 Pages 123-130
Background: The number of emergency medical service (EMS) calls has rapidly increased in recent years, posing an urgent challenge to emergency medical systems. Although the association between the occurrence of severe patients and meteorological factors and temporal trends is important, related reports remain limited.
Objective: To clarify the association between the occurrence of severe patients and meteorological factors, including mean temperature, mean wind speed, mean atmospheric pressure, presence of rain (yes/no), humidity, and temporal trends (day of week, time of day).
Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study of 33,441 EMS transports for endogenous diseases between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2024, within one city and three towns under the jurisdiction of our fire department. Logistic regression analysis was performed using R software, with severity status (severe / non-severe) as the dependent variable and meteorological factors and temporal trends as independent variables. Age and sex were included as covariates. A significance level of 0.05 was applied.
Results: Of the 33,441 cases, 2,757 (8.2%) were classified as severe, 1,538 (55.8%) were male, and 2,218 (80.4%) were aged 65 years or older. Logistic regression analysis revealed that mean temperature (OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.98-0.99) and nighttime (OR 1.11, 95% CI 1.02-1.20) were significantly associated with severity.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that meteorological factors and temporal trends may be associated with the occurrence of severe patients.
