Epidemiological studies reported adverse effects of air pollution on the prevalence of respiratory diseases in children. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between air pollution and admissions for asthma and other respiratory diseases among children who were younger than 15 yr of age. The study used data on respiratory hospital admissions and air pollutant concentrations, including thoracic particulate matter (PM(10)), fine (PM(2.5)), and coarse (PM(10-2.5)) particulate matter in Zonguldak, Turkey. A bidirectional case-crossover design was used to calculate odds ratios for the admissions adjusted for daily meteorological parameters. Significant increases were observed for hospital admissions in children for asthma, allergic rhinitis (AR), and upper (UPRD) and lower (LWRD) respiratory diseases. All fraction of PM in children showed significant positive associations with asthma admissions. The highest association noted was 18% rise in asthma admissions correlated with a 10-microg/m(3) increase in PM(10-2.5) on the same day of admissions. The adjusted odds ratios for exposure to PM(2.5) with an increment of 10 microg/m(3) were 1.15 and 1.21 for asthma and allergic rhinitis with asthma, respectively. PM(10) exerted significant effects on hospital admissions for all outcomes, including asthma, AR, UPRD, and LWRD. Our study suggested a greater effect of fine and coarse PM on asthma hospital admissions compared with PM(10) in children.
High‐volume particle samples were collected from 1979 to 1983 from the south pole atmosphere and analyzed by nuclear methods. The new results are combined with similar studies at the south pole. There is no trend of concentrations during 12 years of sampling, but concentrations of elements fluctuate through seasonal cycles. Concentrations of elements associated with crustal dust and sea salt showed opposite seasonal variations. Concentrations of most crustal elements are low during winters, but double during summers. Concentration of marine elements are low in the summers and high in winters. Enrichment factors of some crustal elements, such as Ba, La, Ce, Yb, and Hf are higher in the winter than summer, indicating the presence of a second crustal component with a different chemical composition in the south pole atmosphere. A similar difference in the crustal enrichment factor of Co is due to the influence of volcanic or anthropogenic sources. Sulfate, seasalt, meteoritic particles, volatiles, and two different types of crustal particles are found to be components of the south polar aerosols. The relative contribution of each component to total aerosol mass is as follows: crustal, 4.0% in summer, 2.5% in winter; marine elements 16.6% in summer, 78.6% in winter; sulfate, 77.5% in summer, 18.0% in winter; meteoritic particles, 0.1% in summer, 0.1% in winter; volatiles, 0.9% in summer, 0.5% in winter; crustal component II, 0.8% in summer, 0.7% in winter.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.