Association between Extreme Cold Weather Temperatures and Mortality in Greece

The two leading death causes during extreme cold weather were diseases of the nervous system (36.5%) and diseases of the respiratory system (26.8%). The prevalence of deaths due the aforementioned causes was significantly increased on extreme cold weather (and following seven days) when compared to warm temperature days (temperatures ranging between 15-20 °C; p < 0.001). In addition, temperature during extreme cold weather was significantly associated with increased mortality; a decrease of 1°C in mean temperature significantly increased mortality by 2.8% (p < 0.001). On the first and second day following extreme cold weather, mortality increased by 0.6% (p < 0.001) and 0.8% (p < 0.01), respectively.