Low-level air pollution and hospital admissions for cardiac and cerebrovascular diseases in Helsinki.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated whether low concentrations of ambient air pollutants are associated with hospital admissions for ischemic cardiac and cerebrovascular diseases. METHODS: Associations between daily concentrations of sulfur dioxide, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and particulates and daily hospital admissions due to ischemic cardiac and cerebrovascular diseases were studied in Helsinki, Finland, 1987 through 1989. The regression analyses controlled for weather, day of the week, season, long-term trends, and influenza epidemics. RESULTS: Admissions via emergency rooms due to ischemic cardiac diseases (n = 7005) were significantly associated with the prevailing levels of nitric oxide and ozone, and those due to cerebrovascular diseases (n = 3737) were associated with nitrogen dioxide; these levels were only moderate. Long-term transient myocardial ischemic attacks were related to particulates, and short-term ischemic attacks were related to nitrogen dioxide. CONCLUSIONS: Symptoms of ischemic cardiac and cerebrovascular diseases may be provoked by pollutants in concentrations lower than those given as guidelines in many countries and lower than previously shown.

Estimation of Short-Term Effects of Air Pollution on Stroke Hospital Admissions in Southern Sweden

“…However, the ORs associated with a 10 g/m 3 increase in NO x were close to unity, indicating a lack of association regardless of statistical power. Previous studies on background levels of nitrous oxides and stroke have produced both negative [7,9,17,[19][20][21]24] and positive results [4-6, 13, 14, 16, 22, 23] , and have all used shared monitoring station data, whereas we used individually modeled data. Background concentrations of NO x have been shown to be an indicator for ultrafine particulate air pollution in an urban setting close to our study area [31] .…”

“…The relation between hospital admissions for stroke and particulate air pollution is less clear; some researchers report an association [11][12][13][14][15][16] while others do not [17][18][19][20] . Associations have been observed between ozone, black smoke, CO, NO 2 and SO 2 for both stroke mortality and hospital admissions [6,9,[21][22][23] . In one study an association was observed between hospital admissions for ischemic stroke and ozone (in men), but not for particles [24] .…”

Air Pollution and Doctors' House Calls: Results from the ERPURS System for Monitoring the Effects of Air Pollution on Public Health in Greater Paris, France, 1991–1995

“…Virtanen, 1996), but, recently, Jousilahti et al (1996) reported some influence of chronic bronchitis on the risk of coronary disease.…”

Asian dust storm events are associated with an acute increase in stroke hospitalisation

“…The literature is still conflicted regarding the association between the level of PM 10 and stroke admissions. While some studies have shown significant associations between PM 10 and the overall number of stroke admissions,24 25 the results of other studies did not read significant levels 17 26–29. The discrepancy from previous studies regarding the association between stroke admissions and ADS may reflect the complexity of the topic.…”