Effects of contamination and climate in the Pediatric Emergency Department visits for acute respiratory infection in the City of Buenos Aires

Abstract

Introduction: Pollution and climate have an impact on pediatric respiratory diseases; few studies have assessed this in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Objective: To assess the impact of the interaction between air pollutants and climate on the Emergency Department visits for acute lower respiratory tract infection (ALRTI) in a children's hospital. Methods: Ecological, time-series study with generalized additive models that included total visits and visits for ALRTI to the Emergency Department between 2012 and 2016. A series with 7-day moving averages for ALRTI visits was founded as a bias control measure. Predictors were daily levels of air pollutants (carbon monoxide, nitrous dioxide, particulate matter < 10 μ) and meteorological variables (temperature, humidity). Pollutants were measured at three monitoring stations. Temporal variables (day of the week, warm/cold semester) were controlled. Results: There were 455 256 total visits; 17 298 accounted for visits for ALRTI. A correlation was established only between total visits and day of the week (Mondays and Saturdays, more visits; Thursdays, less visits). Less visits for ALRTI were recorded in the warm semester compared to the cold semester (relative risk = 0.23; 95 % confidence interval: 0.29-0.18; p < 0.001). One monitoring station did not show any correlation; the other two stations showed a weak correlation between carbon monoxide and particulate matter < 10 μ and visits for ALRTI. Conclusion: The season accurately accounts for the increased number of total visits and visits for ALRTI. Although there was a correlation between the level of certain pollutants and the number of visits, its impact was irrelevant.

Pneumonia hospitalization risk attributable to ambient air pollution and temperature in a mid-temperate, industrial city: a time-series analysis

“…𝑛𝑠 is the natural smooth spline function, 𝑇𝐸𝑀𝑃, 𝐵𝑃 and 𝑅𝐻 are the average temperature, average pressure, and average relative humidity, respectively, and ⅆ𝑓 is the degree of freedom. In previous studies, Dow and holidays were believed to have an impact on the number of pneumonia hospitalizations (18), so they were included in the model as categorical variables to exclude the influence of holidays and time trends. The df of 𝑇 , 𝑇𝐸𝑀𝑃, 𝐵𝑃 and 𝑅𝐻 were selected according to the Akaike information criterion (AIC) and the methods of previous studies (19).…”

Ambient air pollution, temperature and hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases in a cold, industrial city

“…The df was degree of freedom, which was determined according to Akaike information criterion (AIC) and previous researches [ 39 - 42 ]. Previous researches have proposed that working days and holiday had influence on the number of admissions [ 43 , 44 ], so the DOW and Holiday were the effect of weekday and holiday, and both were included in the model as factor variables. The α was the intercept.…”

Relación entre material particulado, variables meteorológicas e infecciones respiratorias agudas en la zona norte de Ocaña

“…De lo discutido acerca de la IRA y sus posibles causas, dependiendo de la atención médica (Tobón y Cardona, 2018;Téllez, 2019), varios estudios demuestran que estos impactos en la salud respiratoria pueden permanecer varios días (Gabbe et al, 2019;Ferrero et al, 2019). En este caso de estudio, las buenas correlaciones con los desfases temporales encontrados con los modelos de regresión lineal múltiple permitirían prever la posible incidencia del PM10 sobre las IRA hasta con cuatro semanas de antelación, en especial, en las niñas; lo cual representaría un apoyo para las instituciones hospitalarias que reciben a la población afectada en diferentes épocas del año.…”