GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY AND LIFE. I. EMERGENCY VISITS IN AN ORTHOPAEDIC CLINIC

We have analysed the daily number of emergency calls in an orthopaedic clinic for the period 1995-1999 and the corresponding index, Ap, of daily global geomagnetic activity (GMA). We found that both kinds of annual time series represent fractal dynamics as revealed by a Fast Fourier Transform of the series. The time series showed a seasonal, wavelike pattern. The minimum and maximum values of these waves revealed, to a first approximation, a negative correlation between Ap and emergency calls. A change in the average geomagnetic activity from one season to another can be accompanied by up to about a 16% effect on the average number of emergency calls. This suggests that the human organism continuously accumulates small or unnoticeable effects of geomagnetic activity, and the effect is only seen when examined over long periods of time of the order of seasons.