Associations between Dust Exposure and Hospitalizations in El Paso, Texas, USA

Abstract

The Southwestern USA has been identified as one of the most persistent dust-producing regions of North America, where exposure to inhalable particulate matter (PM10) originating from desertic landscape during dust events/dust exposures (DEs) can reach hazardous levels. El Paso, Texas’s ambient air has reached hazardous levels of PM10 from dust with near zero visibility due to these natural events originating in the surrounding Chihuahuan Desert. The aim of this study was to investigate whether dust exposures in El Paso (generally acute, short-term exposures from nearby source areas) are associated with significant increases in hospitalizations on the day of the exposure and up to seven days afterwards. Using a Poisson regression, it was found that the relative risks of hospitalizations due to a variety of conditions were associated with dust exposures (through increases of 100 μg/m3 maximum hourly PM10 and/or increases of 4.5 m/s maximum hourly wind speed) in El Paso County, Texas between 2010 and 2014. Valley fever, coronary atherosclerosis, genitourinary diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, injury and poisoning, circulatory system conditions, respiratory system diseases, births, septicemia, Associated Diseases (the aggregation of hospital admissions for all causes, each associated with at least 5% of hospitalizations), and all ICD-9 admissions were significantly positively associated with dust exposures, indicated from higher to lower significant risk, at different lag periods after exposure. These findings, showing that an association does exist between dust exposures and hospitalizations, have important implications for residents of the world’s dryland cities.

When a Dust Storm Is Not a Dust Storm: Reliability of Dust Records From the Storm Events Database and Implications for Geohealth Applications

“…Different studies that examined the impact of dust on human health in the USA, either focused on one region (Comrie, 2021 ; Grineski et al., 2011 ; Hefflin et al., 1994 ; Herrera‐Molina et al., 2021 ; Ostro et al., 1999 ) or the entire USA (Crooks et al., 2016 ; Jones, 2020 ; Rublee et al., 2020 ). In some studies, environmental observations such as wind speed, PM concentrations from nearby air quality monitors, and/or reported weather codes from nearby ASOS were used to identify dust events (Grineski et al., 2011 ; Herrera‐Molina et al., 2021 ), while others used the Storm Events Database (SED) as the source of their DS dataset (Crooks et al., 2016 ; Jones, 2020 ; Rublee et al., 2020 ).…”

Exploring Meteorological Conditions and Human Health Impacts during Two Dust Storm Events in Northern Cape Province, South Africa: Findings and Lessons Learnt

“…Eye irritation is one of the most common health outcomes associated with hospital admission at the time of dust storms in Asia and the Middle East [5,39]. In a recent study in the southwestern US in which sound meteorological and PM data were available, small but statistically significant effects were found between sand and dust storms and hospitalizations for a range of health outcomes on the day and within a seven-day period after dust exposure [40]. Other studies have shown short-term effects of dust storms on the risk of mortality in Kuwait [41], Taipei [42], and Iran [43].…”

Health and Safety Effects of Airborne Soil Dust in the Americas and Beyond

“…Increased odds of hospitalization for asthma and acute bronchitis were detected on dust days and for up to 3 days thereafter in El Paso, Texas, with the greatest impacts being seen in children (especially girls, for acute bronchitis) and persons with low income (Grineski et al, 2011). Herrera-Molina et al (2021) found the relative risks of hospitalizations for multiple diseases over a 5-year period in El Paso were significantly associated with windblown dust exposure on the day of the event and for up to 7 days later. Rodopoulou et al (2014) noted a connection between concentrations of PM 10 and PM 2.5 and emergency room utilization for cardiovascular conditions in the warm season in Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA, where blowing dust is frequent.…”

“…Herrera‐Molina et al. (2021) found the relative risks of hospitalizations for multiple diseases over a 5‐year period in El Paso were significantly associated with windblown dust exposure on the day of the event and for up to 7 days later. Rodopoulou et al.…”