Atmospheric Pollution and Hospitalization for Cardiovascular and Respiratory Diseases in the City of Manaus from 2008 to 2012

Abstract

Introduction. Air pollution has been identified as a serious public health problem in the world’s major metropolises. Recent studies have shown that airborne particle concentrations are associated with a wide range of effects on human health, including increased hospital admissions for respiratory disease, enhanced asthma episodes, decreased lung function, and increased mortality. Objective. To relate the levels of air pollution and hospital admissions for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in the city of Manaus in Brazil from 2008 to 2012. Method. This is an ecological time-series study among children (under 5 years of age) and elderly (above 60 years of age). Data on the daily number of hospitalizations for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, pollutants (PM2.5), temperature, and humidity were used. Poisson generalized additive models were used to estimate the association between variables. Increases in hospitalizations for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases were estimated for the interquartile range (IQR) daily mean level of each variable studied, with a confidence interval of 95%. Results. Respiratory diseases and children: −0.40% (95% CI: −1.11, 0.30), 0.59% (95% CI: −0.35, 1.52), and 0.47% (95% CI: −3.28, 4.21) for PM2.5, temperature, and humidity, respectively. Respiratory diseases and elderly: 0.19% (95% CI: −0.93, 1.31), −0.10% (95% CI: −1.85, 1.65), and −6.17% (95% CI: −13.08, 0.74) for PM2.5, temperature, and humidity, respectively. Cardiovascular diseases and elderly: −0.18% (95% CI: −0.86, 0.50), −0.04% (95% CI: −1.10, 1.03), and −3.37% (95% CI: −7.59, 0.85) for PM2.5, temperature, and humidity, respectively. Conclusions. The time-series study found no significant association between PM2.5, temperature, humidity, and hospitalization, unlike the evidences provided by the present academic literature. Since there is no air quality monitoring network in Manaus and the option available in the present study was to reproduce some information obtained from remote sensing, there is a need for implementation of ground monitoring stations for health and environmental studies in the region.

Long-Term Exposure to Ozone and Fine Particulate Matter and Risk of Premature Coronary Artery Disease: Results from Genetics of Atherosclerotic Disease Mexican Study

“…For example, a study in Lima, Peru conducted between 2010 to 2016 found positive associations between combined circulatory and respiratory deaths and PM 2.5 exposure—an increase of 1.8% per 10 μg/m 3 increase in PM 2.5 concentration, driven largely by those over 65 years of age [ 42 ]. An ecological time-series study conducted in Manaus, Brazil found no significant associations between PM 2.5 exposure and hospital admissions due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in Brazilian children (under 5 years) and the elderly (>60 years) [ 43 ]. Finally, a spatial analysis of PM 2.5 concentrations in Bogotá, Colombia suggested an increase in cardiopulmonary mortality associated with short-term and long-term PM 2.5 exposure [ 44 ].…”

“…Overall, previous studies in Latin America focused on cardiovascular disease and air pollution exposure have several limitations: (1) do not consider the specific cause of cardiovascular mortality or hospitalization; (2) ecological designs, and for one of them, the inability to assign exposure estimates at a spatial resolution smaller than the district. All of these limitations might explain discrepancies among the findings [ 42 , 43 , 44 ].…”

Association Between Air Pollutants and Hospitalization with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Ganzhou, China

“…Exposure to atmospheric particulates has been con rmed to be closely related to the incidence rate and mortality of respiratory diseases [1][2][3][4] . Many kinds of atmospheric pollutants, represented by PM 2.5 , have become a non negligible problem to harm human environmental health.…”