Association of air pollution with hospital outpatient visits in Beijing
- Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA (United States)
Data collected at a community-based hospital in Beijing, China, were analyzed in an assessment of the association of air pollution with daily outpatient visits. Total suspended particle (TSP) measurements were available for 210 d(mean, 388 {mu}g/m{sup 3}; maximum, 1 255 {mu}g/m{sup 3}), and sulfur dioxide (SO{sub 2}) measurements were available for 2 d (mean, 119 {mu}g/m{sup 3}), (maximum 478 {mu}g/m{sup 3}). The average number of daily hospital outpatient visits was 1 386; approximately 8.5% of these visits were to the surgery department, 7.9% were to the pediatrics department, and 20.6% were to the internal medicine department. A large increase in nonsurgery outpatient visits was observed in association with increases in both SO{sub 2} and TSP in linear regression models, after adjusting for temperature, humidity, season, and day of the week. The estimated effects (in which the most polluted days were compared with the least polluted days) on nonsurgery outpatient visits were increases of 20% (SE = 5%) and 17% (SE = 4%) in association with increases in SO{sub 2} and TSP, respectively. In a department-specific analysis, the association was found to be 1.5-to 2.0-fold stronger for pediatrics and internal medicine visits than for other types of visits. The separate association of SO{sub 2} and TSP with internal medicine visits remained statistically significant when both SO{sub 2} and TSP were considered simultaneously and when adjustment was made for surgery visits in both winter and summer. The association between outpatient visits and air pollutions appeared to be stronger in summer than in winter, although the summer daily mean SO{sub 2} concentration was only 17 {mu}g/m{sup 3} (maximum, 51 {mu}g/m{sup 3}). These data provide coherent evidence that current air-pollution levels in Beijing are associated with adverse health outcomes, and they also suggest that air pollution in Beijing needs to be controlled more effectively. 25 refs., 1 fig., 3 tabs.
- OSTI ID:
- 161659
- Journal Information:
- Archives of Environmental Health, Vol. 50, Issue 3; Other Information: PBD: May-Jun 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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