Peterson RA, et al. - This population-based study investigated changes in the weather as a risk factor for cellulitis. Findings suggested that admissions to the hospital for cellulitis risk were strongly associated with warmer weather.

Methods

• Using data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (years 1998 to 2011), researchers performed investigation to identify the geographic location for 773719 admissions with the primary diagnosis (ICD-9-CM code) of cellulitis and abscess of finger and toe (681.XX) and other cellulitis and abscess (682.XX).
• Data from the National Climatic Data Center was used, in addition, to determine the monthly average temperature for each of these different locations.
• In this work, the odds of an admission having a primary diagnosis of cellulitis as a function of demographics, payer, location, patient severity, admission month, year, and the average temperature in the month of admission were modeled.

Results

• With higher temperatures, the odds of an admission with a primary diagnosis of cellulitis increased in a dose-response fashion.
• For instance, relative to a cold February with average temperatures under 40° F, an admission in a hot July with an average temperature exceeding 90°F indicated 66.63% higher odds of being diagnosed with cellulitis (95% confidence interval [CI]: [61.2, 72.3]).
• After controlling for temperature, there appeared a decrease in the estimated amplitude of seasonality of cellulitis by approximately 71%.