Epistaxis: a study of the relationship with weather

Epistaxis is the commonest ENT emergency requiring hospital admission. A seasonal variation in the admission rate has been documented. The role of weather in accounting for this variation is uncertain. A retrospective review of 686 adult hospital admissions for idiopathic spontaneous epistaxis over a 2-year period in the Greater Glasgow area was carried out. The most significant weather parameter which correlated with monthly admissions was mean monthly temperature (Pearson's correlation coefficient -0.81, P less than 0.01). Admissions increased by over 100% from the warmest to the coldest months. This is the first report of the high correlation between hospital admissions for epistaxis and mean monthly temperature.