Particulate Air Pollution and Primary Care Visits in Kosovo: A Time-Series Approach

Zana Shabani Isenaj, Merita Berisha, Antigona Ukëhaxhaj and Hanns Moshammer ()
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Zana Shabani Isenaj: Medical Faculty, University of Hasan Prishtina, Rr. George Bush Nr. 31, 10000 Pristina, Kosovo
Merita Berisha: Medical Faculty, University of Hasan Prishtina, Rr. George Bush Nr. 31, 10000 Pristina, Kosovo
Antigona Ukëhaxhaj: National Institute of Public Health, St. Mother Teresa pn, Rrethi i Spitalit, 10000 Pristina, Kosovo
Hanns Moshammer: Department of Environmental Health, ZPH, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 24, 1-7

Abstract: This study aimed to investigate the effects of particulate air pollution (PM2.5) on cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in Pristina, Kosovo, in a time-series analysis using daily primary healthcare visits to primary care institutions from 2019 to 2022. For the observation period, 6440 cardiovascular and 15,141 respiratory visits were reported, whereas the daily mean concentrations of PM2.5 ranged between 2.41 and 120.3 µg/m 3 . Single-lag models indicated a bi-phasic lag structure with increasing effect estimates some days after the air pollution event. In the distributed lag model with seven lags, the effect estimates for the cardiovascular cases indicated the adverse effect of air pollution. The cumulative effect estimate (summed over lag 0 to 6) for an increase of 10 µg/m 3 of PM2.5 was a relative risk of 1.010 (95% confidence interval: 1.001–1.019). For respiratory cases, a different lag model (lag 4 through 10) was additionally examined. In this model, significant increases in visits were observed on lags 7 and 8. Overall, no relevant increase in visits occurred during the seven days considered. Visits to general practitioners will often not occur immediately at disease onset because patients will wait, hoping that their health status improves spontaneously. Therefore, we expected some latency in the effects.

Keywords: respiratory health; cardiovascular health; primary care visits; particulate air pollution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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