Short‐, Medium‐, and Long‐Term Temperature and Sudden Cardiac Death in a Cohort of US Women
8 affiliations
- 1Department of Environmental Health Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health Boston MA USA
- 2Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Harvard University Cambridge MA USA
- 3Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School Boston MA USA
- 4Department of Pathology and Cell Biology Columbia University Medical Center New York NY USA
- 5Department of Biostatistics Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health Boston MA USA
- 6Department of Cardiology, Smidt Heart Institute Cedars Sinai Medical Center Los Angeles CA USA
- 7Divisions of Preventative Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School Boston MA USA
- 8Department of Epidemiology Harvard School of Public Health Boston MA USA
Abstract
Background: Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is an important contributor to the global burden of cardiovascular disease. Previous studies have reported an association with extremes in temperature in the hours and days leading up to SCD, but there has been little investigation focusing on the months and year before an SCD event. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between short‐, medium‐, and long‐term temperature and SCD.
Methods: Temperature predictions using 800‐m Parameter‐Elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model data were used to estimate monthly moving average temperature. Data on temperature were appended to each Nurses' Health Study participant's geocoded residential addresses. SCD cases were determined on the basis of medical record review and next‐of‐kin reports. Time‐varying Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the association between exposure 1‐ and 12‐month moving averages of temperature and SCD. Individual risk factors, socioeconomic status, and cardiovascular comorbidities were considered as confounders in the final models.
Results: Over the follow‐up period, there was a total of 428 definite and 36 probable SCD cases among the 118 636 participants. One‐ and 12‐month moving average temperatures were inversely associated with SCD in the basic, risk factor, and fully adjusted models. For example, in the parsimonious individual risk factor model with definite cases only, per interquartile range (15.27 °C for the 1‐month moving average temperature, 4.72 °C 12‐month moving average temperature) increase in temperature, the hazard ratios for definite SCD were 0.58 (95% CI, 0.44–0.77) for the 1‐month and 0.76 (95% CI, 0.66–0.88) for the 12‐month moving average.
Conclusions: After controlling for risk factors and cardiovascular morbidities, lower temperatures were associated with SCD. This study demonstrates that short‐, medium‐, and long‐term cold temperature also play an important role in SCD.
Related
- Magnesium levels and short- to medium-term cardiovascular events after percutaneous coronary intervention: a prospective cohort study
- NKX2-5 mutation in a family with ventricular tachycardia and aborted sudden cardiac death.
- Research trends and hotspot analysis of sudden cardiac death in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy : A bibliometric analysis
- Genetic risk factors and causal associations with sudden cardiac arrest : A Mendelian randomization study
- An unexpected atypical atriofascicular pathway presenting with sudden cardiac arrest: Mechanistic insights.
BibTeX
@article{borchert2026short,
title = {{Short‐, Medium‐, and Long‐Term Temperature and Sudden Cardiac Death in a Cohort of US Women}},
author = {William Borchert and Rachel C. Nethery and Christine M. Albert and Jochem O. Klompmaker and Charlotte Roscoe and Grete E. Wilt and Francine Laden and Jaime E. Hart},
journal = {Journal of the American Heart Association: Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1161/jaha.123.033829},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1161/jaha.123.033829},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Short‐, Medium‐, and Long‐Term Temperature and Sudden Cardiac Death in a Cohort of US Women
AU - William Borchert
AU - Rachel C. Nethery
AU - Christine M. Albert
AU - Jochem O. Klompmaker
AU - Charlotte Roscoe
AU - Grete E. Wilt
AU - Francine Laden
AU - Jaime E. Hart
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/30
JO - Journal of the American Heart Association: Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease
DO - 10.1161/jaha.123.033829
UR - https://doi.org/10.1161/jaha.123.033829
AB - Background: Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is an important contributor to the global burden of cardiovascular disease. Previous studies have reported an association with extremes in temperature in the hours and days leading up to SCD, but there has been little investigation focusing on the months and year before an SCD event. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between short‐, medium‐, and long‐term temperature and SCD. Methods: Temperature predictions using 800‐m Parameter‐Elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model data were used to estimate monthly moving average temperature. Data on temperature were appended to each Nurses' Health Study participant's geocoded residential addresses. SCD cases were determined on the basis of medical record review and next‐of‐kin reports. Time‐varying Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the association between exposure 1‐ and 12‐month moving averages of temperature and SCD. Individual risk factors, socioeconomic status, and cardiovascular comorbidities were considered as confounders in the final models. Results: Over the follow‐up period, there was a total of 428 definite and 36 probable SCD cases among the 118 636 participants. One‐ and 12‐month moving average temperatures were inversely associated with SCD in the basic, risk factor, and fully adjusted models. For example, in the parsimonious individual risk factor model with definite cases only, per interquartile range (15.27 °C for the 1‐month moving average temperature, 4.72 °C 12‐month moving average temperature) increase in temperature, the hazard ratios for definite SCD were 0.58 (95% CI, 0.44–0.77) for the 1‐month and 0.76 (95% CI, 0.66–0.88) for the 12‐month moving average. Conclusions: After controlling for risk factors and cardiovascular morbidities, lower temperatures were associated with SCD. This study demonstrates that short‐, medium‐, and long‐term cold temperature also play an important role in SCD.
SN - 2047-9980
ER -