Asthma disease as cause of admission to hospitals due to exposure to ambient oxidants in Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

Nowadays, asthma is one of the most common chronic respiratory diseases, worldwide. Many reports have emphasized the correlation between the short-term exposure to the ambient air pollutants and acute respiratory diseases, especially among children with asthmatic symptoms. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the exposure to three atmospheric antioxidants (NO, SO, and O) and hospital admission due to asthmatic disease (HAAD) in the city of Mashhad, Iran. The concentrations of atmospheric antioxidants were obtained from the real-time monitoring stations located in the city. The collected data were employed for developing predictive models in the AirQ software. In order to investigate the association between short-term exposure to air pollutants and HAAD, the study participants were categorized into two age groups: less than 15 and from 15 to 64 years old. The results indicated that in people less than 15 years increase in NO (attributable proportion (AP) = 3.775%, 95% CI 0.897-6.883%), SO (AP = 3.649%, 95% CI 1.295-5.937%), and O (AP = 0.554%,95% CI 0.00-3.321) results in increase in HAAD. While for those aged between 15 and 64 years, the AP was 4.192% (95% CI 0.450-7.662%) for NO; 0.0% (95% CI 0.00-1.687%) for SO; and 0.236% (95% CI 0.00-1.216%) for O. The number of asthmatic cases who were less than 15 years admitted to the hospitals during the study period was higher than that of those within the age groups between 15 and 64 years as a consequence of exposure to NO (101 vs. 75), SO (98 vs. 0), and O (15 vs. 3), respectively. To the best of our knowledge, the AirQ model has not been applied before to estimate the effect of atmospheric antioxidant exposure on hospital admission because of asthma disease. Eventually, this model is proposed to be applicable for other cities around the world.

Impact of ambient air pollution and wheeze-associated disorders in children in Southeast Asia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…While the connection between CO, O 3 and risk of respiratory admission in children has been reported in previous studies (64)(65)(66)(67)(68), their effects on wheeze-associated disorders has not been proven among children in Southeast Asia (44)(45)(46)(47). In our review, there was no apparent association found for CO and O 3 , with a percent change of close to zero.…”

Long-term exposure to ambient PM2.5 and impacts on health in Rome, Italy

“…IE is rate of exposure for certain category of PM 2.5 concentration and BI, the baseline incidence rate of health endpoints. 41,42 The number of excess cases (NE) due to PM 2.5 exposure can be quantified if the target exposed population (N) is known as indicated in Eqs. (4).…”

Evaluating the effects of atmospheric environment on children’s health in Hanoi, Vietnam

“…O3 at ground level is an air pollutant because it is a strong oxidant that is highly reactive with tissues causing human health effects or producing harmful ecological and welfare effects, such as forest damage and reduced crop production. O3 has been associated with adverse effects on the respiratory system, cardiovascular diseases or even premature death (119,120). Acute exposure to air with high levels of O3 can trigger chest pain, coughs and wheezes, throat irritation, and airway inflammation.…”

“…Longer term exposure can reduce lung function and lung growth, lead to the development of asthma, and induce exacerbations of bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma (120). Increased ground level O3 has been associated with asthma and respiratory related exacerbations (69,119,(121)(122)(123)(124). Several European studies have reported that for each 10 µg/m 3 increase in O3 exposure, the daily mortality increases by 0.3% and occurrence of heart diseases increases by 0.4% (118).…”

“…Excessive O3 can have a marked effect on human health and its association with asthma and respiratory related exacerbations have been reported elsewhere (119)(120)(121)(122)(123)(124). However, not all studies observe any link (65,295,296).…”