Air pollution and hospital admissions in Southern Ontario: the acid summer haze effect

Journal Article · Sat Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1987 · Environ. Res.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0013-9351(87)80032-4· OSTI ID:6378228

Bates, D V; Sizto, R

Air pollution data from 17 sampling stations between Windsor and Peterborough in Southern Ontario, for January, February, July, and August in 1974 and 1976 to 1983, have been analyzed. Each station reported O/sub 3/, NO/sub 3/, SO/sub 2/, and the coefficient of haze (COH) every hour and aerosol sulfates for a 24-hr period every sixth day using glass-fiber filters. Data on mean daily temperature and relative humidity for the region were also recorded. It is shown that there are high correlations between different pollutants and between these and temperature in the summer. In the summer, sulfate levels were significantly correlated with relative humidity. In winter, the highest correlation was between COH and NO/sub 2/. Over the 9-year period, SO/sub 2/ levels in both winter and summer have fallen considerably; there have been no significant trends in O/sub 3/, NO/sub 3/, or COH data. Aerosol sulfates increased between 1976 and 1980 in both summer and winter and have since declined slightly. Hospital admission data for the 79 acute care hospitals serving the region, which contains about 5.9 million people, have been analyzed on a daily basis for the same months of the same years. Total admissions and total respiratory admissions have declined about 15% over the period, but asthma admissions appear to have risen. The asthma category of admissions is complicated by the effects of a change in ICD coding in 1979. It has been shown that significant correlations exist between O/sub 3/, SO/sub 4/, SO/sub 2/, and temperature, on the one hand, and deviations from the mean respiratory admissions for that day of the week, for that season, for that year, on the other. These correlations exist if asthma is excluded from the diagnoses. In winter, asthma admissions are correlated with temperature only. A group of nonrespiratory conditions showed no correlations with air pollutants in winter or summer.

• Research Organization: Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver
• OSTI ID: 6378228
• Journal Information: Environ. Res.; (United States), Journal Name: Environ. Res.; (United States) Vol. 43:2; ISSN ENVRA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
550900 -- Pathology
560300 -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AIR POLLUTION
AIR POLLUTION MONITORING
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
ASTHMA
CANADA
CHALCOGENIDES
CORRELATIONS
DISEASES
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
EPIDEMIOLOGY
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
HUMIDITY
MATHEMATICS
NITRATES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NORTH AMERICA
ONTARIO
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
OZONE
POLLUTION
REGRESSION ANALYSIS
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM DISEASES
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
STATISTICS
SULFATES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR DIOXIDE
SULFUR OXIDES
VARIATIONS
WEATHER