Because of the overbearing low temperature, cold areas increase the morbidity and mortality of chronic non-communicable diseases (chronic diseases) in exposed populations. With the growth of the aging population and the superposition of lifestyle risk factors, the number of people with chronic diseases in cold areas is climbing, and the family and social burdens are rising. These health-threatening circumstances in the cold areas render the general practitioners to face serious challenges and difficulties in the community management of chronic diseases. This paper summarizes the current situation of chronic disease management in cold areas and explores the relevant management models so as to provide a useful reference for regional health construction, graded diagnosis and treatment, and prevention and control of chronic diseases in China.

While osteoporosis is a chronic disease caused by multiple factors, it is also a risk factor for fractures. At present, numerous risk factors for osteoporosis and secondary fractures have been identified, including sunlight, physical fitness, gender, age, trauma, dietary habits, tobacco, alcohol, drugs, air quality, and genetics. Despite that factors such as long winters, short daylight hours, less daily physical activity, air pollution, low calcium and high salt diet, and sedentary lifestyle could negatively impact the bones of residents in the alpine regions of northern China, the direct effect of low-temperature stimulation on bone growth and development remains unclear. In this study, by reviewing current research progress related to osteoporosis and fracture risk in northern China, we proposed appropriate preventive measures for different risk factors to reduce the occurrence of osteoporosis and fracture in cold areas of northern China.

  Background   Previous studies have established a link between fluctuations in climate and increased mortality due to coronary artery disease (CAD). However, there remains a need to explore and clarify the evidence for associations between meteorological changes and hospitalization incidences related to CAD and its subtypes, especially in cold regions. This study aimed to systematically investigate the relationship between exposure to meteorological changes, air pollutants, and hospitalization for CAD in cold regions.   Methods   We conducted a cross-sectional study using hospitalization records of 86, 483 CAD patients between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2019. Poisson regression analysis, based on generalized additive models, was applied to estimating the influence of hospitalization for CAD.   Results   Significant associations were found between low ambient temperature [-10℃, RR= 1.65; 95% CI: (1.28–2.13)] and the incidence of hospitalization for CAD within a lag of 0–14 days. Furthermore, O₃ [95.50 μg/m³, RR = 12; 95% CI: (1.03–1.21)] and NO₂ [48.70 μg/m³, RR = 1.0895% CI: (1.01–1.15)] levels were identified as primary air pollutants affecting the incidence of CAD, ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), and non-STEMI (NSTEMI) within the same lag period. Furthermore, O₃ [95.50 μg/m³, RR = 1.12; 95% CI: (1.03–1.21)] and NO₂ [48.70 μg/m³, RR = 1.0895% CI: (1.01–1.15)] levels were identified as primary air pollutants affecting the incidence of CAD, ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), and non-STEMI (NSTEMI) within the same lag period. The effect curve of CAD hospitalization incidence significantly increased at lag days 2 and 4 when NO₂ and O₃ concentrations were higher, with a pronounced effect at 7 days, dissipating by lag 14 days. No significant associations were observed between exposure to PM, SO₂, air pressure, humidity, or wind speed and hospitalization incidences due to CAD and its subtypes.   Conclusion   Our findings suggest a positive correlation between short-term exposure to low ambient temperatures or air pollutants (O₃ and NO₂) and hospitalizations for CAD, STEMI, and NSTEMI. These results could aid the development of effective preparedness strategies for frequent extreme weather events and support clinical and public health practices aimed at reducing the disease burden associated with current and future abnormal weather events.

Migraine is a common primary headache which seriously affects the quality of patients' life due to the high prevalence and disability rate. Recent years a large number of studies have found that temperature is directly bound to migraine and migraine patients in cold regions have higher prevalence, different manifestations and poor response to the conventional therapy. We propose in this review article a new concept of migraine in cold regions on the basis of geography and summarize the research advances on the pathogenesis of migraine in cold regions to provide conceptual basis for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of this disease entity.

The management of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients in cold areas is an important task in the daily practice of primary medical and health institutions. An important way to reduce the burden of CKD is to achieve early identification of and implement timely intervention on the relevant risk factors. Studies have shown that diet, alcohol, tobacco, air, sedentary and other factors in cold areas have negative impacts on human kidneys; yet, our current understanding of the effect of cold stimulation on CKD remains blurry. This paper introduces the research progress of risk factors related to CKD in cold areas and analytically summarizes the pathogenesis of CKD caused by cold stimulation, aiming to provide a reference work for the prevention, screening, evaluation, and management of CKD in cold areas.

  Objective  To explore the effects of daily mean temperature (℃), average daily air pressure (hPa), humidity (%), wind speed (m/s), particulate matter (PM) 2.5 (μg/m³) and PM10 (μg/m³) on the admission rate of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients admitted to the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University in Harbin and to identify the indexes and lag days that impose the most critical influence.  Methods  The R language Distributed Lag Nonlinear Model (DLNM), Excel, and SPSS were used to analyze the disease and meteorological data of Harbin from 01 January 2010 to 31 December 2019 according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria.  Results  Meteorological factors and air pollution influence the number of hospitalizations of CKD to vary degrees in cold regions, and differ in persistence or delay. Non-optimal temperature increases the risk of admission of CKD, high temperature increases the risk of obstructive kidney disease, and low temperature increases the risk of other major types of chronic kidney disease. The greater the temperature difference is, the higher its contribution is to the risk. The non-optimal wind speed and non-optimal atmospheric pressure are associated with increased hospital admissions. PM2.5 concentrations above 40 μg/m³ have a negative impact on the results.  Conclusion  Cold region meteorology and specific environment do have an impact on the number of hospital admissions for chronic kidney disease, and we can apply DLMN to describe the analysis.

Osteoarthritis is a common chronic irreversible joint disease characterized by degenerative changes of articular cartilage and secondary hyper osteogeny. Knee osteoarthritis(KOA) affects not only the articular cartilage, but also the entire joint, including subchondral bone, joint capsule, synovial membrane, meniscus, ligaments, periarticular muscles, and tendons. The primary aim of treatment is to relieve symptoms, delay joint degeneration, and maximally maintain patient's quality of life. There are many risk factors contributing to the development of KOA, including climate. This review will discuss the relationship between climate in cold region and KOA and the possibility of modifying risk factors such as the environment for the prevention and treatment of KOA.

Developmental disorders (DDs) are a kind of chronic maladies, which can cause serious irreversible detriment to children's physical and mental health. It is predominantly regulated by the interaction of environment and heredity. Cold regions are mainly located in the high latitudes of China. Their living environment is characterized by frequent cold wave, huge temperature difference, severe air pollution, high calorie diet, less exercise, smoking, drinking, etc. In recent years, substantial advances have been made in studies of the correlation between the living environment features in cold regions and the DDs. Accordingly, this article reviews the impact of the peculiar living environment of cold regions on DDs, with a view to provide fresh prevention strategies for reducing the morbidity of DDs in China cold regions by ameliorating living environment.

Climate is one of the environmental conditions on which people live. Climate conditions impact every aspect of people's daily life and production activities, even the survival of humankind. In recent years, human activities have adversely changed the climate. The emergence of global warming and extreme weather has prompted people to pay attention to the impact of climate on life. The adverse climate issues include reduced quality of air and food, facilitated spread of diseases and increased mortality of the population. Being more orientated to climate changes in the past, research has been less alerted to the negative impacts that climate changes could bring to human health. This could be ascribed to that after living in a region for a long time, the human body has "adapted" to climate. And after adaptation, routine health outcomes such as disease incidence and hospitalization rate become less obvious, making the habitants blind from the undesirable impacts of climate on the health status. This review article summarizes the impacts of cold climate on human development, including maternal/fetal factors, lifestyle factors, etc., and delineates the relationship between cold climate and human health.