Abstract

Background: We aimed to evaluate the effects of seasonal changes on urinaryspecific gravity, blood pressure and urinary erythrocyte number in children living in Mediterranean climate.Material/Methods: The study was conducted on 547 children who presented for routine follow up to healthy-childcare department between January 1997 and December 2002. Age, sex, weight, height, blood pressure, urinaryspecific gravity and urinary erythrocyte number were recorded by retrospective evaluation of files. Then,the parameters during summer were compared with those during winter. Additionally, correlation betweenthe blood pressure, urinary specific gravity and urinary erythrocyte number was assessed separately duringsummer and winter. Results: Anthropometrical measurements and mean age of the patients in summer andwinter groups were similar. There was no significant change in urinary specific gravity (p>0,05), whilesystolic and diastolic blood pressures were significantly higher in winter (p=0.031 and p=0.028 respectively).Temperature and humidity levels did not change significantly among different years but mean air temperaturesduring summer positively correlated with time from 1997 till 2002 (r=0.965, p=0.002). Blood pressureand urinary specific gravity were not correlated to each other at any time. Contrarily, there was a positivecorrelation between urinary specific gravity and erythrocyte number in summer (p=0.01). The number ofchildren with hematuria and degree of hematuria did not differ significantly between summer and winter.Conclusions: Seasonal changes in Mediterranean climate do not lead to changes in hydration status orin urinary erythrocyte number in children. Therefore, the decrease in blood pressure during summer cannot be attributed to the hydration status.

Keywords: Child, Blood Pressure, Adolescent, Child, Preschool, Climate, Hematuria - urine, Infant, Newborn, Mediterranean Region, Seasons, Turkey, Urine - cytology