OBJECTIVES: Heart attack is diagnosed in approximately 20000 cases annually in Hungary, half of which leads to death in one year. In our study we investigated, how meteorological factors influence the figures of heart attack, whether there is a parallel relatonship between weather fronts and heart attack during the study period. METHODS: We analyzed data of patients admitted to hospitals in Hungary between 2000 and 2004, with the diagnosis of heart attack. During the study period 81,956 cases were recorded. We categorized patient subgroups based on the day, month and year of the admission, and the gender and age of the patients. The National Health Insurance Fund and the National Weather Service provided us with the appropriate data. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA and chi2-probe. RESULTS: During the study period we found a correlation between the incidence of heart attack cases and meteorological factors. In spring, we observed significantly more heart attacks than in other seasons (p<0.01). Cold weather fronts in spring and summer positively correlated with heart attack incidence, while in autumn and winter the warm front had similar impact (p<0.01). In 2002, there was a statistically significant difference between age groups below and above 50 years (p:0.069 vs. p:0.930, correspondingly). CONCLUSIONS: There is a statistically significant seasonality in heart attack incidence. The development of new prevention strategies must rely on the seasonal and age characteristics of the change of heart attack incidence throughout the world.