Emergency Hospital Visits in Association with Volcanic Ash, Dust Storms and Other Sources of Ambient Particles: A Time-Series Study in Reykjavík, Iceland

Hanne Krage Carlsen, Thorarinn Gislason, Bertil Forsberg, Kadri Meister, Throstur Thorsteinsson, Thorsteinn Jóhannsson, Ragnhildur Finnbjornsdottir and Anna Oudin
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Hanne Krage Carlsen: Centre of Public Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Stapi v/Hringbraut, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
Thorarinn Gislason: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Sleep, Landspítali University Hospital-Fossvogur, 108 Reykjavík, Iceland
Bertil Forsberg: Unit of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, 90187 Umeå, Sweden
Kadri Meister: Unit of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, 90187 Umeå, Sweden
Throstur Thorsteinsson: Unit of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Iceland, Sturlugata 7, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
Thorsteinn Jóhannsson: Environmental Agency of Iceland, Suðurlandsbraut 24, 108 Reykjavík, Iceland
Ragnhildur Finnbjornsdottir: Centre of Public Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Stapi v/Hringbraut, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
Anna Oudin: Unit of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, 90187 Umeå, Sweden

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: Volcanic ash contributed significantly to particulate matter (PM) in Iceland following the eruptions in Eyjafjallajökull 2010 and Grímsvötn 2011. This study aimed to investigate the association between different PM sources and emergency hospital visits for cardiorespiratory causes from 2007 to 2012. Indicators of PM 10 sources; “volcanic ash”, “dust storms”, or “other sources” (traffic, fireworks, and re-suspension) on days when PM 10 exceeded the daily air quality guideline value of 50 µg/m 3 were entered into generalized additive models, adjusted for weather, time trend and co-pollutants. The average number of daily emergency hospital visits was 10.5. PM 10 exceeded the air quality guideline value 115 out of 2191 days; 20 days due to volcanic ash, 14 due to dust storms (two days had both dust storm and ash contribution) and 83 due to other sources. High PM 10 levels from volcanic ash tended to be significantly associated with the emergency hospital visits; estimates ranged from 4.8% (95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.6, 9.2%) per day of exposure in unadjusted models to 7.3% (95% CI: ?0.4, 15.5%) in adjusted models. Dust storms were not consistently associated with daily emergency hospital visits and other sources tended to show a negative association. We found some evidence indicating that volcanic ash particles were more harmful than particles from other sources, but the results were inconclusive and should be interpreted with caution.

Keywords: particle matter; volcanic ash; dust storms; emergency hospital visits; respiratory health; cardiovascular health (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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