In addition to being a widely used food additive, saffron is used in the traditional medicine for vomiting, spasm, asthma, bronchitis, fever, colds, cardiovascular disorders, and also cancer [ 5– 8].
In that study, regions with mild winters showed greater increases in cold-related cardiovascular events than did regions with usually cold winters.
Our work sheds light on the mechanisms that underlie cold-induced cardiovascular risks that may pave an avenue for the treatment and prevention of atherosclerosis-associated CVD.
Results from the study by Schneider and co-authors [ 19] seem to reflect the left part of the U- or V-shaped association between temperature and mortality, and therefore suggesting that inflammation may have a role in cold-related cardiovascular deaths.
The prolonged cold effects on cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and cardiorespiratory mortality in the cold period appeared also with similar magnitudes for the two age groups.
Results for the cumulative effects over a two-week period of extreme cold temperatures on cardiovascular and respiratory disease ER visits are also presented in Table 4.
A similar conclusion was drawn by a study of the effects of cold temperatures on cardiovascular disease (Barnett et al. 2005).
Data on potential risk factors for CAV were collected retrospectively, including recipient and donor characteristics, cold ischemic time, cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking status before transplantation and complications (acute rejection (AR) episodes).
In particular, persons with comorbid kidney diseases may be vulnerable to the cumulative short term effect of extreme cold temperatures on cardiovascular disease ER visits (RR = 1.34; 95% CI: 0.92 – 1.95).
The biologic mechanism underlying the relation of extreme cold temperature and cardiovascular disease ER visit among patients with comorbid kidney diseases may be related to the fact that renal disorders are known to increase blood pressure [ 34].
