More asthma ER visits after thunderstorms

ATLANTA, July 11 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say asthma-related hospital visits in the Atlanta metro area increase after thunderstorms.

Researchers at the University of Georgia and Emory University examined a database consisting of more than 10 million emergency room visits in about 41 hospitals in a 20-county area in and around Atlanta for the period 1993 to 2004.

Lead author Andrew Grundstein, a climatologist in the department of geography at University of Georgia, said the study found a 3 percent higher incidence of visits for asthma attacks on days following thunderstorms.

"While a 3 percent increase in risk may seem modest, asthma is quite prevalent in Atlanta, and a modest relative increase could have a significant public health impact for a region with more than 5 million people," Grundstein said in a statement. "Three percent is likely conservative because of limitations in this study."

While an association between thunderstorm activity and asthma deaths and emergency room visits has been reported around the world, virtually no studies have been done in the U.S. South, where hundreds of thousands suffer from asthma and thunderstorms are prevalent, the researchers said.

The research was published in the online edition of the medical journal Thorax.