Air Pollution and Daily Clinic Visits for Headache in a Subtropical City: Taipei, Taiwan

Hui-Fen Chiu, Yi-Hao Weng, Ya-Wen Chiu and Chun-Yuh Yang
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Hui-Fen Chiu: Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
Yi-Hao Weng: Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Taipei 333, Taiwan
Ya-Wen Chiu: Master Program in Global Health and Development, College of Public Health and Nutrition, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan
Chun-Yuh Yang: Faculty of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-12

Abstract: This study was undertaken to determine whether there was an association between air pollutant levels and daily clinic visits for headache in Taipei, Taiwan. Daily clinic visits for headache and ambient air pollution data for Taipei were obtained for the period from 2006–2011. The odds ratio of clinic visits for headache was estimated using a case-crossover approach, controlling for weather variables, day of the week, seasonality, and long-term time trends. In the single pollutant models, on warm days (>23 °C) statistically significant positive associations were found for increased rate of headache occurrence and levels of particulate matter (PM 10 ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), carbon monoxide (CO), and ozone (O 3 ). On cool days (<23 °C), all pollutants were significantly associated with increased headache visits except SO 2 . For the two-pollutant models, PM 10 , O 3 and NO 2 were significant for higher rate of headache visits in combination with each of the other four pollutants on cool days. On warm days, CO remained statistically significant in all two-pollutant models. This study provides evidence that higher levels of ambient air pollutants increase the risk of clinic visits for headache.

Keywords: air pollution; headache; case-crossover; clinic visits (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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