| Summary: | Background: The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is the most prominent and recurrent pattern of atmospheric variability over the middle and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, especially during the cold season months (November-March). Changes in NAOs are likely to affect human physiological parameters. There are very few studies investigating the effects of NAO changes on human health, but no direct associations between NAO indices and physiological parameters were found. Methods: Data were obtained from the survey performed in the framework of the international HAPIEE study. The number of individuals used in the models or other analysed groups was 7,077. The association between environmental variables and systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) were evaluated by applying the multiple regression analysis, adjusting for health related and weather variables. Results: More than one-half (58.7%) of the respondents had high BP, and 39.4% of the respondents had taken drugs for high BP during the last 2 weeks. Among the respondents, the mean SBP and DBP was 141.6±22.2 mmHg and 90.4±12.5 mmHg, respectively. An increase in SBP was associated with the presence of a lower RH, and a higher WS and extreme AP with a lag of 2 days. During spring-autumn, a negative association between continuous NAO indices on the same day and a positive NAO on the same and on two previous days and SBP value was observed. A positive NAO was associated (p = 0.001) with a decrease in SBP by 1.7 mmHg in all participants, by 2.30 mmHg in physically active subjects and with a decrease by 3.62 mmHg in the elderly, as compared to a negative NAO. Conclusions: A negative association between the NAO and systolic and diastolic blood pressure was detected during March-June and September-November – especially for the elderly. The NAO was negatively associated with systolic BP only in the elderly and physical active subjects and a significant ne[.].
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