Air pollutants and morbidity of cardiopulmonary diseases in a semi-urban Greek peninsula

Abstract

Aim: To access the relationship between the frequency of hospitalizations due to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and air pollution. Material-method: Time series study during a seven year period (2001-2007) in a semi-urban tourist Greek peninsula. Data were collected from the computerized database of Volos General Hospital and included on a daily basis all emergency admissions of adults (>14 years old) which required hospitalization due to respiratory or cardiovascular problems. Daily concentrations of ambient pollutants [particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 mm (PM(10)), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO(2)), nitrogen oxides (NO, NO(2), NO(x)) and ozone (O(3))] were obtained from three monitoring stations. The impact of air pollutants on morbidity was studied through time series analysis. The effects of time trend, season, and other cyclical factors, temperature, and humidity were accounted for. Auto-correlation and overdispersion were corrected. Results: There were significant associations between hospitalizations and all indicators of air pollution. Daily elevations in the concentrations of PM(10), NO, CO and O(3) increased significantly the number of hospitalizations for respiratory/cardiovascular causes both on the same day and at the next day (P < 0.05). Combined increase of CO and O(3) and of PM(10) and CO was associated with even higher hospitalization rates. Conclusion: Our findings suggest a significant relationship between morbidity burden of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and the levels of air pollution: these results underline that reinforcement of measures which target to control ambient pollution, is necessary. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.