Association between wet-bulb globe temperature with peptic ulcer disease in different geographic regions in a large Taiwanese population study

Table 2 Comparison of clinical characteristics among participants in different geographic regions

Characteristics	Northern Taiwan (n = 40,170)	Central Taiwan (n = 23,124)	Southern Taiwan (n = 45,643)	Eastern Taiwan (n = 11,487)	ANOVA p
PUD (%)	13.9	14.0^*	14.7^*†	17.4^*†#	< 0.001
WBGT during noon period*
1-year average of WBGT (per 1 ℃)	26.38 ± 0.77	27.40 ± 0.82^*	28.10 ± 0.69^*†	26.68 ± 1.02^*†#	< 0.001
3-year average of WBGT (per 1 ℃)	26.23 ± 0.81	27.23 ± 0.79^*	27.98 ± 0.63^*†	26.44 ± 1.15^*†#	< 0.001
5-year average of WBGT (per 1 ℃)	26.08 ± 0.80	27.10 ± 0.78^*	27.86 ± 0.60^*†	26.23 ± 1.14^*†#	< 0.001
WBGT during work period*
1-year average of WBGT (per 1 ℃)	24.83 ± 1.06	23.83 ± 0.74^*	25.82 ± 0.78^*†	24.87 ± 1.14^*†#	< 0.001
3-year average of WBGT (per 1 ℃)	24.76 ± 1.09	23.75 ± 0.74^*	25.73 ± 0.72^*†	24.69 ± 1.11^*†#	< 0.001
5-year average of WBGT (per 1 ℃)	24.63 ± 1.10	23.63 ± 0.76^*	25.61 ± 0.68^*†	24.51 ± 1.10^*†#	< 0.001

*Noon period is defined as 11 am to 2 pm, and work period is defined as 8 am to 5 pm
Abbreviations. PUD, peptic ulcer disease; WBGT, wet-bulb globe temperature
^*p < 0.05 compared with northern Taiwan; ^†p < 0.05 compared with central Taiwan; ^#p < 0.05 compared with southern Taiwan

ISSN: 1471-230X