Table 1

Seasonal variation estimates of cardiovascular risk factors

	Northern Hemisphere				Southern Hemisphere
	Seasonal variation	Nadir	Peak	Adjusted R²	Seasonal variation	Nadir	Peak	Adjusted R²
Body Mass Index (kg/m²)*	0.26†	July	January	0.97	0.52†	December	June	0.78
Waist circumference (cm) *	0.57†	July	January	0.95	0.77			0.82‡
Systolic blood pressure (mm Hg)§	2.93†	June	December	0.95	3.44†	January	July	0.98
Diastolic blood pressure (mm Hg)§	1.42†	June	December	0.96	0.86†	November	May	0.59
Triglycerides (mmol/L)§	0.02†	April	October	0.94	0.07†	July	January	0.87
Total cholesterol (mmol/L)§	0.10†	June	December	0.91	0.21†	October	April	0.85
HDL cholesterol (mmol/L)§	0.01†	August	February	0.93	0.04			0.64
LDL cholesterol (mmol/L)§	0.11†	July	January	0.91	0.10			0.89‡
Glycaemia (mmol/L)§	0.07†	August	February	0.98	0.17†	October	April	0.67

Data from 21 studies from the Northern Hemisphere and 3 from the Southern Hemisphere. Results are presented as seasonal variation, nadir, peak and adjusted R² (percentage of variance explained).
*Adjusted for gender, age and smoking.
†Seasonal variation statistically significant at 5% level, that is, at least one of the associated p values of sine or cosine functions <0.05.
‡Data were available for two studies only.
§Adjusted for gender, age, smoking and Body Mass Index.