Coarse Particulate Air Pollution Associated with Increased Risk of Hospital Admissions for Respiratory Diseases in a Tropical City, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Meng-Hsuan Cheng, Hui-Fen Chiu and Chun-Yuh Yang
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Meng-Hsuan Cheng: Division of Pulmonary and Critical Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
Hui-Fen Chiu: Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
Chun-Yuh Yang: Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-16

Abstract: This study was undertaken to determine whether there was an association between coarse particles (PM 2.5–10 ) levels and frequency of hospital admissions for respiratory diseases (RD) in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Hospital admissions for RD including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and pneumonia, and ambient air pollution data levels for Kaohsiung were obtained for the period from 2006 to 2010. The relative risk of hospital admissions for RD was estimated using a case-crossover approach, controlling for weather variables, day of the week, seasonality, and long-term time trends. For the single pollutant model (without adjustment for other pollutants), increased rate of admissions for RD were significantly associated with higher coarse PM levels only on cool days (<25 °C), with a 10 µg/m 3 elevation in PM 2.5–10 concentrations associated with a 3% (95% CI = 1%–5%) rise in COPD admissions, 4% (95% CI = 1%–7%) increase in asthma admissions, and 3% (95% CI = 2%–4%) rise in pneumonia admissions. No significant associations were found between coarse particle levels and the number of hospital admissions for RD on warm days. In the two-pollutant models, PM 2.5–10 levels remained significantly correlated with higher rate of RD admissions even controlling for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, or ozone on cool days. This study provides evidence that higher levels of PM 2.5–10 enhance the risk of hospital admissions for RD on cool days.

Keywords: fine particles; coarse particles; air pollution; case-crossover; respiratory diseases; hospital admissions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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