The Effects of Air Pollution on Hospitalizations for Cardiovascular Diseasein Elderly People in Australian and New Zealand Cities

Barnett, Adrian; Williams, Gail M.; Schwartz, Joel; Best, Trudi; Neller, Anne; Petroeschevsky, Anna; Simpson, R.W.

doi:10.1289/ehp.8674

Cited by 267 publications

(201 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…After dividing the PM 2.5 concentration into four equal quartiles using the Q1, Q2, and Q3 divisions, compared with the reference group (the group with the lowest PM 2.5 concentration), the clinical visit incidence of patients with respiratory diseases in the other three groups increased. Previous studies (Barnett et al, 2006;Guo et al, 2010;Ma et al, 2011;Hansen et al, 2012) indicated that an increased PM 2.5 concentration causes an increased risk of respiratory diseases, which is consistent with the results of this study.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Using Atmospheric Visibility to Assess the Effects of Air Pollution on Hospital Admissions for Respiratory Diseases

Lung

Chen

Yang

et al. 2016

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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Air pollution is a significant hazard to human health. Atmospheric visibility is an aggregative indicator of air pollution and meteorological conditions. Yet, only a few studies have reported the relationship between atmospheric visibility and health risks. This study attempted to utilize atmospheric visibility to assess the effects of air pollution on hospital admissions for respiratory diseases (ICD-9: 460-519). Daily measurements of air pollutants, atmospheric visibility, and Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database were obtained for the year 2010 in Taichung. We compared the differences in different locations (coastal and urban areas). A Poisson regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between the atmospheric visibility and the respiratory consultation rate, with adjustment for potential confounding factors, including meteorological factors, spatial variances, and types of air pollution. The primary results indicated that air pollution and atmospheric visibility degradation were both more serious in the urban area than in the coastal area. The atmospheric visibilities were divided into Q 1 (25 th percentile), Q 2 (50 th percentile), and Q 3 (75 th percentile); these divisions show the inversely proportional trend between atmospheric visibility range and health risks. It was also observed the similar inversely proportional trend between particulate matter and health risks. Under the hazard periods of atmospheric visibility ≤ 10 km, the relative significant health risks of 1.088 and 1.042 were observed in the coastal area and urban area, respectively. The relative health risks of particulate matters were 1.053 in the coastal area and 1.101 in the urban area during the periods of PM 2.5 ≥ 35 µg m -3 . This study establishes a new perspective from which to assess the effects of air pollution on hospital admissions for respiratory diseases by utilizing atmospheric visibility. Additionally, it provides a convenient way for the public to understand the relationship between air pollution and its effects on human health.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Using Atmospheric Visibility to Assess the Effects of Air Pollution on Hospital Admissions for Respiratory Diseases

Lung

Chen

Yang

et al. 2016

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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“…Similar results have been found in Japan [35], Australia, and New Zealand [36]. In 2008, Samoli et al [37] re-analyzed the data of the APHEA 2, NMMAPS, and several Canadian studies in order to assess the coherence of findings using the same methods for all three sets of data.…”

Section: Short-term Effectsmentioning

confidence: 60%

Clearing the Air: A Review of the Effects of Particulate Matter Air Pollution on Human Health

2011

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The World Health Organization estimates that particulate matter (PM) air pollution contributes to approximately 800,000 premature deaths each year, ranking it the 13th leading cause of mortality worldwide. However, many studies show that the relationship is deeper and far more complicated than originally thought. PM is a portion of air pollution that is made up of extremely small particles and liquid droplets containing acids, organic chemicals, metals, and soil or dust particles. PM is categorized by size and continues to be the fraction of air pollution that is most reliably associated with human disease. PM is thought to contribute to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease by the mechanisms of systemic inflammation, direct and indirect coagulation activation, and direct translocation into systemic circulation. The data demonstrating PM's effect on the cardiovascular system are strong. Populations subjected to long-term exposure to PM have a significantly higher cardiovascular incident and mortality rate. Short-term acute exposures subtly increase the rate of cardiovascular events within days of a pollution spike. The data are not as strong for PM's effects on cerebrovascular disease, though some data and similar mechanisms suggest a lesser result with smaller amplitude. Respiratory diseases are also exacerbated by exposure to PM. PM causes respiratory morbidity and mortality by creating oxidative stress and inflammation that leads to pulmonary anatomic and physiologic remodeling. The literature shows PM causes worsening respiratory symptoms, more frequent medication use, decreased lung function, recurrent health care utilization, and increased mortality. PM exposure has been shown to have a small but significant adverse effect on cardiovascular, respiratory, and to a lesser extent, cerebrovascular disease. These consistent results are shown by multiple studies with varying populations, protocols, and regions. The data demonstrate a dose-dependent relationship between PM and human disease, and that removal from a PM-rich environment decreases the prevalence of these diseases. While further study is needed to elucidate the effects of composition, chemistry, and the PM effect on susceptible populations, the preponderance of data shows that PM exposure causes a small but significant increase in human morbidity and mortality. Most sources agree on certain "common sense" recommendations, although there are lonely limited data to support them. Indoor PM exposure can be reduced by the usage of air conditioning and particulate filters, decreasing indoor combustion for heating and cooking, and smoking cessation. Susceptible populations, such as the elderly or asthmatics, may benefit from limiting their outdoor activity during peak traffic periods or poor air quality days. These simple changes may benefit individual patients in both short-term symptomatic control and long-term cardiovascular and respiratory complications.

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“…While it is clear that local populations are affected by wildfire events, a growing concern is the potential health impact on geographically distant populations, specifically in susceptible groups such as the elderly. Epidemiologic research has identified the elderly, who are more likely to have pre-existing lung and heart diseases, as a population vulnerable to the effects of short-term exposures to air pollution including fine particles [24,[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Canadian Forest Fires and the Effects of Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Hospitalizations among the Elderly

Breysse

McDermott

et al. 2014

IJGI

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In July 2002, lightning strikes ignited over 250 fires in Quebec, Canada, destroying over one million hectares of forest. The smoke plume generated from the fires had a major impact on air quality across the east coast of the U.S. Using data from the Medicare National Claims History File and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National air pollution monitoring network, we evaluated the health impact of smoke exposure on 5.9 million elderly people (ages 65+) in the Medicare population in 81 counties in 11 northeastern and Mid-Atlantic States of the US. We estimated differences OPEN ACCESS ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2014, 3 714 in the exposure to ambient PM 2.5 -airborne particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter of ≤2.5 µm-concentrations and hospitalizations for cardiovascular, pulmonary and injury outcomes, before and during the smoke episode. We found that there was an associated 49.6% (95% confidence interval (CI), 29.8, 72.3) and 64.9% (95% CI, 44.3-88.5) increase rate of hospitalization for respiratory and cardiovascular diagnoses, respectively, when the smoke plume was present compared to before the smoke plume had arrived. Our study suggests that rapid increases in PM 2.5 concentrations resulting from wildfire smoke can impact the health of elderly populations thousands of kilometers removed from the fires.

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The Effects of Air Pollution on Hospitalizations for Cardiovascular Diseasein Elderly People in Australian and New Zealand Cities

Cited by 267 publications

References 18 publications

Using Atmospheric Visibility to Assess the Effects of Air Pollution on Hospital Admissions for Respiratory Diseases

Using Atmospheric Visibility to Assess the Effects of Air Pollution on Hospital Admissions for Respiratory Diseases

Clearing the Air: A Review of the Effects of Particulate Matter Air Pollution on Human Health

Canadian Forest Fires and the Effects of Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Hospitalizations among the Elderly

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