Fine Particulate Air Pollution and Hospital Utilization for Upper Respiratory Tract Infections in Beijing, China

Daitao Zhang, Yaohua Tian, Yi Zhang, Yaying Cao, Quanyi Wang and Yonghua Hu
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Daitao Zhang: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
Yaohua Tian: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
Yi Zhang: Institute of Infectious Diseases and Endemic Diseases Control, Beijing Municipal Center for Disease Prevention and Control & Beijing Research Center for Preventive Medicine, Beijing 100013, China
Yaying Cao: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
Quanyi Wang: Institute of Infectious Diseases and Endemic Diseases Control, Beijing Municipal Center for Disease Prevention and Control & Beijing Research Center for Preventive Medicine, Beijing 100013, China
Yonghua Hu: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 4, 1-9

Abstract: Few studies have examined the association between fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) in urban cities. The principal aim of the present study was to evaluate the short-term impact of PM 2.5 on the incidence of URTI in Beijing, China. Data on hospital visits due to URTI from 1 October 2010 to 30 September 2012 were obtained from the Beijing Medical Claim Data for Employees, a health insurance database. Daily PM 2.5 concentration was acquired from the embassy of the United States of America (US) located in Beijing. A generalized additive Poisson model was used to analyze the effect of PM 2.5 on hospital visits for URTI. We found that a 10 μg/m 3 increase in PM 2.5 concentration was associated with 0.84% (95% CI, 0.05–1.64%) increase in hospital admissions for URTI at lag 0–3 days, but there were no significant associations with emergency room or outpatient visits. Compared to females, males were more likely to be hospitalized for URTI when the PM 2.5 level increased, but other findings did not differ by age group or gender. The study suggests that short-term variations in PM 2.5 concentrations have small but detectable impacts on hospital utilization due to URTI in adults.

Keywords: fine particulate matter; PM 2.5; upper respiratory tract infections; generalized additive model; time series (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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