The effect of coarse ambient particulate matter on first, second, and overall hospital admissions for respiratory disease among the elderly
- University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON (Canada). Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine
The objective of this article is to examine differences in the effect of ambient particulate matter on first, second, and overall hospital admissions for respiratory disease among the elderly. 8989 adults 65 yr of age or older living in the greater Vancouver area who were admitted to hospital for any acute respiratory disease (ICD-9 codes 460-519) between June 1, 1995, and March 31, 1999 were studied. Time-series analysis was used to evaluate the association between respiratory admissions and daily measures of particulate matter (PM{sub 10}, PM{sub 2.5}, and PM{sub 10-2.5} in urban air, after adjustment for gaseous copollutants (CO, O{sub 3}, NO{sub 2}, and SO{sub 2}) and meteorological variables. Repeated admissions for respiratory disease were common among the elderly. Approximately 30% of the subjects were readmitted to hospital after the first admission; 9% had more than 2 admissions for respiratory disease during the 4-yr study period. PM{sub 10-2.5} was significantly associated with the second and overall admissions for respiratory disease, but not with the first admission. The adjusted relative risks for an increment of 4.2 {mu} g/m{sup 3} in-day average PM{sub 10-2.5} concentrations were 1.03 for the first admission, 1.22 for the second admission, and 1.06 for overall admissions. There was no significant association between PM{sub 2.5} and hospital admissions for respiratory disease among the elderly. The data suggest that (1) people with a history of respiratory admissions are at a higher risk of respiratory disease in relation to particulate air pollution in urban areas, (2) analyses based on overall rather than repeated hospital admissions lead to lower estimates of the risk of respiratory disease associated with particulate air pollution, and (3) PM{sub 10-2.5} has a larger effect on respiratory admissions than PM{sub 2.5}.
- OSTI ID:
- 20681376
- Journal Information:
- Inhalation Toxicology, Vol. 17, Issue 12; ISSN 0895-8378
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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