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Geographical Variations in Heart Deaths and Diabetes: Effect of Climate and a Possible Relationship to Magnesium

Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Science, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah

Address reprint requests to: Kay B. Franz, PhD, RD, FACN, Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Science, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602. E-mail: kay_franz{at}byu.edu

Background: Geographical variations in deaths from heart disease and the prevalence of diabetes occur in the United States.

Methods: These geographical variations, by state, were compared to the tertiles of the Z-score (Z-climate) obtained from the mean annual temperature and precipitation, by state, and to the tertiles of the Z-score (Z-environment) obtained from six environmental factors, by state, in monovariant analyses of variance.

Results: Both Z-scores were significantly related to male heart deaths (Z-climate: p = 0.000009; Z-environment: p = 0.000043) with Z-climate being the most significant. Both Z-scores were significantly related to the 1998 prevalence of diabetes (Z-climate: p = 0.00018; Z-environment: p = 0.0059) with the climate again being the most significant.

Conclusions: Increased temperature can increase magnesium sweat losses, which may not be compensated by diet or water intake. Climate relationships to these diseases need further investigation.

Key words: heart disease, heart deaths, diabetes, climate, temperature, precipitation, magnesium

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