Are day-to-day variations of airborne particles associated with emergency ambulance dispatches?

Abstract

Background: Much of the evidence on the health effects of airborne particles is based on mortality and hospital admissions, while the evidence from other morbidity indicators is still limited. Objective: To measure the relationship between particles with diameter below 10 mm (PM 10 ) and emergency ambulance dispatches (EAD). Methods: Daily EAD for six towns of the Emilia-Romagna region (Italy) were obtained from a database collecting real-time data. Time series analyses were performed, and city-specific estimates were combined using meta-analytic techniques. Results: We found a significant percentage change of EAD associated with a 10 mg/m 3 increase of PM 10 for non-traumatic diseases (0.86%, 95%CI: 0.61,1.1%). A positive relationship was also found for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases without reaching statistical significance. The risks were much higher in the warm (April-September) than in the cold season (January-March and October-December). Conclusions: Emergency ambulance dispatches provide useful insight into the health effects of air pollution and may be useful to establish surveillance systems.

Impact of Air Temperature on London Ambulance Call-Out Incidents and Response Times

“…The increased levels of air pollution associated with the heat wave are a likely cofactor that the simple temperature dependent model does not take into account [25]. The impact of short-lived air pollution episodes on ambulance incidents has recently been shown to be significant across England [26], in London [27] and also in the Italian Region of Emilia-Romagna [28].…”

“…The increased levels of air pollution associated with the heat wave are a likely cofactor that the simple temperature dependent model does not take into account [25]. The impact of short-lived air pollution episodes on ambulance incidents has recently been shown to be significant across England [26], in London [27] and also in the Italian Region of Emilia-Romagna [28]. Using the relationship between temperature and ambulance call-outs, after controlling for air pollution and other confounding factors such as influenza, could inform future studies and help forecast ambulance call out numbers up to a week ahead (the time period for which robust meteorological forecasts are available).…”

Effects of high ambient temperature on ambulance dispatches in different age groups in Fukuoka, Japan

“…We also included a natural cubic spline for date with 5 df per year to adjust for seasonality and long-term trends [32,34] and a natural cubic spline with 4 df for relative humidity [35–37] and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) in the model [35,36,38,39] to control for potential confounders. We also adjusted for weekdays as the categorical variable [40] and weekends and holidays as the indicator variables [23,41,42]. Initially, we set the reference temperature at the optimum reference temperature observed in the risk curve for all ages to secure the comparability among the age groups.…”

Did Fine Particulate Matter from the Summer 2016 Landscape Fires in Tasmania Increase Emergency Ambulance Dispatches? A Case Crossover Analysis

“…Cases that were categorized as "Standby" or that did not have an MPDS category were excluded. All-causes, all non-trauma causes and the MPDS categories that have previously been associated with acute health effects from PM [15,20,25] were analyzed. The categories included: chest pain; heart problems (non-chest pain); stroke; cardiac or respiratory arrest or death; breathing problems; diabetic problems; and unconscious or fainting.…”

“…The studies of fire smoke exposure and EAD have shown an increase in cardiovascular events, including out-of-hospital cardiac arrest [6,[12][13][14] and chest pain [15]; respiratory problems [16,17]; diabetic symptoms [18]; syncope/fainting [18] and all non-traumatic causes combined [19,20].…”