Ambient Air Pollution and Hospital Admissions for Peptic Ulcers in Taipei: A Time-Stratified Case-Crossover Study

Shang-Shyue Tsai, Hui-Fen Chiu and Chun-Yuh Yang
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Shang-Shyue Tsai: Department of Healthcare Administration, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung 82445, Taiwan
Hui-Fen Chiu: Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan
Chun-Yuh Yang: Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 11, 1-10

Abstract: Very few studies have been performed to determine whether there is a relationship between air pollution and increases in hospitalizations for peptic ulcer, and for those that have occurred, their results may not be completely relevant to Taiwan, where the mixture of ambient air pollutants differ. We performed a time-stratified case-crossover study to investigate the possible association between air pollutant levels and hospital admissions for peptic ulcer in Taipei, Taiwan. To do this, we collected air pollution data from Taiwan's Environmental Protection Agency and hospital admissions for peptic ulcer data for the years 2009–2013 from Taiwan's National Health Insurance's research database. We used conditional logistic regression to analyze the possible association between the two, taking temperature and relative humidity into account. Risk was expressed as odds ratios and significance was expressed with 95% confidence intervals. In our single pollutant model, peptic ulcer admissions were significantly associated with all pollutants (PM 10 , PM 2.5 , SO 2 , NO 2 , CO, and O 3 ) on warm days (>23 °C). On cool days (<23 °C), peptic ulcer admissions were significantly associated with PM 10 , NO 2 , and O 3 . In our two-pollutant models, peptic ulcer admissions were significantly associated NO 2 and O 3 when combined with each of the other pollutants on warm days, and with PM 10 , NO 2 , and O 3 on cool days. It was concluded that the likelihood of peptic ulcer hospitalizations in Taipei rose significantly with increases in air pollutants during the study period.

Keywords: ozone; nitrogen dioxide; air pollution; peptic ulcer, case-crossover; hospital admissions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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