An Association between Air Pollution and Daily Outpatient Visits for Respiratory Disease in a Heavy Industry Area

Abstract

In this work we used daily outpatient data from the Landseed Hospital in a heavily industrial area in northern Taiwan to study the associations between daily outpatient visits and air pollution in the context of a heavily polluted atmospheric environment in Chung-Li area during the period 2007–2011. We test the normality of each data set, control for the confounding factors, and calculate correlation coefficient between the outpatient visits and air pollution and meteorology, and use multiple linear regression analysis to seek significance of these associations. Our results show that temperature and relative humidity tend to be negatively associated with respiratory diseases. NO and are two main air pollutants that are positively associated with respiratory diseases, followed by , , , CO, and . Young outpatients (age 0–15 years) are most sensitive to changing air pollution and meteorology factors, followed by the eldest (age 66 years) and age 16–65 years of outpatients. Outpatients for COPD diseases are most sensitive to air pollution and meteorology factors, followed by allergic rhinitis, asthma, and pneumonia diseases. In the context of sex difference to air pollution and meteorological factors, male outpatients are more sensitive than female outpatients in the 16–65 age groups, while female outpatients are more sensitive than male outpatients in the young 0–15 age groups and in the eldest age groups. In total, female outpatients are more sensitive to air pollution and meteorological factors than male outpatients.

Correlation Between Occurrence and Deterioration of Respiratory Diseases and Air Pollution Within the Legally Permissible Limits

“…Particulate matter particles cause respiratory morbidity and mortality by inducing oxidative stress and infl ammation that lead to pulmonary anatomic and physiologic remodeling 19 . Association with PM 10 has been reported for asthma [20][21][22][23][24][25] , URTI and pneumonia 22 , COPD exacerbations [24][25][26][27][28] , as well as for all respiratory visits 20,29,30 . In our study, the number of patients with respiratory diseases (except for asthma) correlated with higher PM 10 concentrations, confi rming its role as the most powerful air pollutant generated by burning of fossil fuels in vehicles and other causes.…”

“…NO 2 is associated with asthma visits 21,[23][24][25]29,33 , COPD 22,33,34 , URTI 22 , pneumonia 29 , as well as all respiratory ED visits 35,36 . Samoli et al found signifi cant association of NO 2 with total, cardiovascular and respiratory mortality 31 .…”

Quantification of the Exposure–Lag–Response Association Between Air Pollution and Respiratory Disease Morbidity in Chongqing City, China

“…Conclusions different from this paper are drawn. For instance, NO and NO 2 are two main air pollutants that are positively associated with respiratory diseases [17], as CO and NO 2 in Qatar [18], and benzene in Drammen, Norway [15]. However, the data of PM 2.5 , NO, CO, and benzene was not collected until 2015 in China.…”

Understanding the Intersection of Environmental Pollution, Pneumonia, and Inflammation: Does Gender Play a Role?

“…Young patients (0-15 years of age) were the most affected by air pollution and meteorology factors, followed by elder patients (age ≥66 years), and aged 16-65. A closer look at gender differences revealed that women were more affected than men in the young age group and in the eldest group, but men were more sensitive between ages 16 and 65 groups [152][153][154][155]. Other studies have also reported both women and elderly people to be more susceptible to die from air pollution than other population groups [153,156,157].…”