Air Pollution in Kosovo: Short Term Effects on Hospital Visits of Children Due to Respiratory Health Diagnoses

Zana Shabani Isenaj, Merita Berisha, Dragan Gjorgjev, Mirjana Dimovska, Hanns Moshammer () and Antigona Ukëhaxhaj
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Zana Shabani Isenaj: Medical Faculty, University of Hasan Pristina, George Bush 31, 10000 Pristina, Kosovo
Merita Berisha: Medical Faculty, University of Hasan Pristina, George Bush 31, 10000 Pristina, Kosovo
Dragan Gjorgjev: Faculty of Medicine, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, 1000 Skopje, North Macedonia
Mirjana Dimovska: Faculty of Medicine, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, 1000 Skopje, North Macedonia
Hanns Moshammer: Department of Environmental Health, ZPH, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Antigona Ukëhaxhaj: National Institute of Public Health, St. Mother Teresa pn, Rrethi i Hospitalit, 10000 Pristina, Kosovo

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 16, 1-12

Abstract: The Republic of Kosovo is a small country in the Balkans. The capital city of Pristina hosts most of its population and is situated in a mountain basin with poor air exchange, especially during winter. Domestic heating, road transport, industry and coal-fired power plants contribute to high levels of air pollution. We performed a time-series analysis on effects of particulate air pollution (PM2.5) on respiratory health of children and adolescents, using hospital admission and ambulatory visit numbers from the pediatric university clinic. From 2018 until 2020, daily mean concentrations of PM2.5 ranged between 2.41 and 161.03 µg/m³. On average, there were 6.7 ambulatory visits per day with lower numbers on weekends and during the first COVID-19 wave in 2020. An increase in PM2.5 led to an immediate increase in visit numbers that lasted over several days. Averaged over a full week, this amounted to about a 1% increase per 10 µg/m³. There were, on average, 1.7 hospital admissions per day. Two and three days after a rise in air pollution, there was also a rise in admission numbers, followed by a decline during the consecutive days. This might indicate that the wards were overstressed because of high admission numbers and restricted additional admissions.

Keywords: PM2.5; hospital admissions; ambulatory visits; time series analysis; lag effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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