Air pollution and acute respiratory illness in five German communities

Journal Article · Tue Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991 · Environmental Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0013-9351(05)80189-6· OSTI ID:7111123

Schwartz, J ^[1]; Spix, C; Wichmann, H E ^[2]; Malin, E ^[3]

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1. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC (United States)
2. Univ. of Wuppertal (Germany)
3. Univ. of Dusseldorf (Germany)

To assess the impact of short-term exposure to air pollution on respiratory illness in children, the authors recruited pediatricians and hospitals in five German cities to report daily counts of children's visits for croup symptoms and obstructive bronchitis. Data were collected for at least 2 years in each location. These symptoms are predominantly found in very young children, with the croup reporting peaking at 2 years of age and obstructive bronchitis at 1 year. A total of 6,330 cases of croup and 4,755 cases of obstructive bronchitis were observed during the study. The distributions of these events were quite skewed and were modeled as a Poisson process. To focus the analysis on short-term correlations and avoid seasonal confounding, biannual, annual (seasonal), and six shorter term cycles were controlled for in the regression models. After controlling for short-term weather factors, total suspended particulate matter (TSP) and nitrogen dioxide (NO{sub 2}) were associated with croup cases. An increase in TSAP levels from 10 {mu}g/m{sup 3} to 70 {mu}g/m{sup 3} was associated with a 27% increase in cases of croup; the same increase in NO{sub 2} levels resulted in a 28% increase in cases. No pollutant was associated with daily cases of obstructive bronchitis.

• OSTI ID: 7111123
• Journal Information: Environmental Research; (United States), Vol. 56:1; ISSN 0013-9351
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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