Background and objective: The harmful effect of dust storm on lung health is controversial. This study aimed to assess any associations between dust storms and emergency hospital admissions due to respiratory disease in Hong Kong. Methods: Data on daily emergency admissions for respiratory diseases to major hospitals in Hong Kong, and indices of air pollutants and meteorological variables from January 1998 to December 2002 were obtained from several government departments. We identified five dust storm days during the study period. Independent t-tests were used to compare the mean daily number of admissions on dust storm and nondust storm days. Case-crossover analysis using the Poisson regression was used to examine the effects of PM10 to emergency hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases. Results: Significant increases in emergency hospital admission due to COPD were found 2 days after dust storm episode. The relative risk of PM10 for lag 2 days was 1.05 (95% CI: 1.01-1.09) per 10 mg/m

The study adds more evidence that exposure to air pollution has adverse effects on lung function growth in schoolchildren.

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The authors aimed to examine the association between diurnal temperature range (DTR) and daily mortalities due to cardiovascular disease among people aged 65 years and older in Hong Kong, China. The authors used a generalized additive model to regress daily mortalities of the elderly due to cardiovascular disease on DTR and daily concentrations of air pollutants from 1997 to 2002. They also tested the effects of different lag days of DTR on mortality. Results indicate significant associations between cardiovascular mortality and DTR at lag day 1 and at lag days 0-1 to 0-5. The largest effect was at lag days 0-3 (relative risks = 1.017; 95% confidence interval = 1.003-1.031). The authors recommend that special attention be paid to the elderly population to protect them from excessive diurnal variations in temperature.