A new geomagnetic index reveals the link between geomagnetic activity and human health

Hiroshi Morimoto

The relationship between geomagnetic storms and human health has been debated for decades. The idea that the geomagnetic fluctuations may cause human ill health has implications for a wide range of illness from cardiovascular disease to mental illness. However, this has not been established in the literature. This work, using a new measure of geomagnetic activity, studies the associations between geomagnetic activity and human health . We classified magnetic storms into two categories, storms of sudden commencement and storms of gradual commencement, and counted their frequencies to get new indices called FSSC and FSGC respectively. We explored the correlation of these new indices with 16 leading causes of death in Japan from 1952 to 2004. We also compared our results with known indices of solar activity viz sunspot numbers and K-index. Significant positive correlations were between FSSC and Hypertensive diseases, Cerebrovascular diseases, Accidents, Transport accidents Malignant neoplasms, Diabetes mellitus, Heart diseases, Pneumonia, Chronic bronchitis and emphysema, Renal failure, and negative correlations between FSSC and Hypertensive diseases, Cerebrovascular diseases, Asthma, Gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer, Senility, Accidents, Transport accidents. No correlations were seen between disease and sunspot numbers. Our new index contributed to revealing the link between the geomagnetic activity and human health more precisely than established indices.

https://dx.doi.org/10.31873/IJEAS.6.8.2019.21