The relevance of air pollution in the public health agenda has recently been reinforced—it is known that exposure to it has negative effects in the health of individuals, especially in big cities and metropolitan areas. In this article we observed the evolution of air pollutants (CO, NO, NO2, O3, PM10) emissions and we confront them with health vulnerabilities related to respiratory and circulatory diseases (all circulatory diseases, cardiac diseases, cerebrovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, all respiratory diseases, chronic lower respiratory diseases, acute upper respiratory infections). The study is supported in two databases, one of air pollutants and the other of emergency hospital admissions, in the 2005–2015 period, applied to the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. The analysis was conducted through Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression, while also using semi-elasticity to quantify associations. Results showed positive associations between air pollutants and admissions, tendentially higher in respiratory diseases, with CO and O3 having the highest number of associations, and the senior age group being the most impacted. We concluded that O3 is a good predictor for the under-15 age group and PM10 for the over-64 age group; also, there seems to exist a distinction between the urban city core and its suburban areas in air pollution and its relation to emergency hospital admissions.
Physical activity is an important health determinant for people’s quality of life and well-being. This study intends to (1) identify how the practice of physical activity fits into families’ daily lives; and (2) verify to what extent the practice of physical activity is influenced by the urban model, family composition, and family perceptions. A survey was applied to 410 families (corresponding to 1006 individuals) in Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA), Portugal, focusing on different physical activities—gym, swimming, walking/trekking/hiking, and cycling. Results are based on descriptive and bivariate data analysis and show the existence of asymmetries in the practice of physical activity in LMA. The urban context impacts the choice and frequency of physical activity practices. The typology of family and age proved to be more differentiating factors than income, being reinforced by daily lives (e.g., daily movements, transport modes, etc.). Positive self-perceptions of quality of life and health levels are also conducive to more active practices, contrary to negative perceptions of the neighborhood that are related to practices in peripheral destinations. Conclusions highlight the need for differentiated measures of physical activity promotion according to the territories and communities’ characteristics in a multilevel approach.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are important neurodegenerative disorders, especially in an aging population context that prevails in high-developed countries and Europe in particular. It is known that exposure to particulate matter (PM) leads to the production and deposition of aggregate clusters of proteins, which are linked to neurological disorders and impediments. Nonetheless, only a few works study the short-term exposure to PM and its association with hospital admissions or mortality due to AD or PD. This study assesses the association between exposure to PM and emergency hospital admissions for AD and PD in an aging metropole, serving as a case study for most European big cities. Daily emergency hospital admissions due to AD and PD data were obtained for the 2012 to 2015 period and multivariate Poisson regression models were used to evaluate the association between PM and admissions while controlling for the day of the week, seasonality, and environmental factors. Furthermore, lagged observations were assessed. Results show that an increase in exposure to PM2.5 resulted in a percentage increase in emergency hospital admissions due to AD and PD. Also, age was an effect modifier for PD admissions. Additionally, greater effects were felt at shorter lags for AD and delayed/longer lags for PD. This study found a relationship between short-term exposure to PM and AD and PD hospital admissions in an urban context, drawing attention to the importance of air pollution for urban health, especially in areas with an aged population structure.
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