Assessment and prediction of short term hospital admissions: the case of Athens, Greece

Kassomenos, Pavlos; Papaloukas, Costas; Petrakis, M.; Karakitsios, S

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2008.06.011

Cited by 52 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…[61,65] once suggested that gaseous air pollutants, especially CO and NO 2 , are more important predictors of acute hospitalization for respiratory conditions than particulate matter. In contrast, [49] found that elevated PM 10 levels indicate a dominant role among the main air pollutants. [30,61] found that the association between particulate matter and health conditions was not significant, while others [38,60,64,[66][67][68][69][70][71] found that the number of admissions for respiratory causes rose significantly with increased exposure to particulate matter.…”

Section: Season Ofmentioning

confidence: 68%

“…CO has been associated with respiratory hospital admissions in several studies. [60] did not find any statistically significant relationship between respiratory hospital admissions and CO, while [49,[61][62][63][64] confirmed the positive role of CO on respiratory health effects. The impact of a long-lasting but low level exposure to CO on respiratory system is therefore still unclear.…”

Section: Season Ofmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…The above-mentioned associations are examined for three seasons. We know only one study [48] that calculated seasonal variations of respiratory admissions in association with levels of PM 10 , SO 2 , CO and NO 2 , and we know only another study [49] that made an attempt to quantify the impact of different chemical pollutants including meteorological elements on the incidence of AR and asthma. However, pollen has not been studied from this point of view.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several studies suggest that high concentrations of O 3 are harmful to human health and they reveal that there is a positive association between O 3 and respiratory hospital admissions [49,67,69,[74][75][76]. Furthermore, the lowest ozone concentrations in the winter months were found to involve an apparent decrease in consultations for upper respiratory tract diseases in London [66].…”

Section: Season Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, high levels of NO 2 partly indicate no significant association with respiratory admissions [30] and partly increase the susceptibility for respiratory diseases [60]. Other examples of the significant positive impact of NO2 levels on respiratory causes are given [49,61,62,64,72,73,77]. Climate and NO 2 dependence of respiratory diseases is also stressed.…”

Section: Season Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Risk Factors for Asthma Hospitalization among Adults and Elderly

Makra¹

2015

Arch Otolaryngol Rhinold

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Joint effect of biological (pollen) and chemical air pollutants on asthma emergency room (ER) visits was analyzed for Szeged region of Southern Hungary. Our database of a nine-year period (1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007) includes daily number of asthma emergency room (ER) visits, and daily mean concentrations of CO, PM 10 , NO, NO 2 , O 3 and SO 2 , furthermore two pollen variables (Ambrosia and total pollen excluding Ambrosia), as well. The analysis was performed for ER visits of asthma bronchiale using two age groups (adults and the elderly) of males and females for three seasons. Factor analysis was performed in order to clarify the relative importance of the pollutant variables affecting asthma ER visits. Asthma ER visits denote notably stronger associations with the pollutants in adult male than in adult female patients both for the pollen season of Ambrosia and the pollen-free season. Furthermore, adults are substantially more sensitive to severe asthma attack than the elderly for the season of total pollen excluding Ambrosia pollen. The joint effect of the chemical and pollen variables is the highest for the asthma ER cases in the pollen season of Ambrosia, basically due to the extra impact of the total pollen excluding Ambrosia pollen and partly due to Ambrosia pollen. A nonparametric regression technique was applied to discriminate between events of ER visit -no ER visit using pollen and chemical pollutants as explaining variables. Based on multiple correlations, the strongest relationships between ER visits and pollutants are observed during the pollen-free season. The elderly group with asthma bronchiale is characterized by weaker relationships between ER visits and pollutants compared to adults. Ratio of the number of correct decisions on the events of ER visit -no ER visit is lowest for the season of total pollen excluding Ambrosia pollen. Otherwise, similar conclusions hold as those received by multiple correlations. on aeroallergens. These include impacts on pollen amount, pollen allergen city, pollen season, plant and pollen distribution, and other plant attributes [18][19][20][21][22]. Hence, due to the continually increasing air pollution, respiratory diseases are of major concern worldwide. Air pollution of Hungary is one of the highest in Europe. Around 16,000 annual premature deaths attributable to exposure to ambient PM 10 concentrations are estimated in the country [23,24]. Furthermore, airborne pollen levels are also high. The Carpathian basin, involving Hungary (Figure 1) is considered the most polluted region with airborne ragweed (Ambrosia) pollen in Europe. Ambrosia in Hungary discharges the most pollen of all taxa; the ratio of its pollen release compared to the total pollen release in the late summer period is around 60-71% [25]. Highest counts on peak days in Szeged, Southern Hungary, are about one order of magnitude higher than those in other cities of Europe [26]. The sensitivity of patients to ragweed in Szeged is 83.7% [27]. About 30% of the Hungar...

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