Liu, S.-T.; Liao, C.-Y.; Kuo, C.-Y.; Kuo, H.-W. The Effects of PM2.5 from Asian Dust Storms on Emergency Room Visits for Cardiovascular and Respiratory Diseases. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health2017, 14, 428.
Liu, S.-T.; Liao, C.-Y.; Kuo, C.-Y.; Kuo, H.-W. The Effects of PM2.5 from Asian Dust Storms on Emergency Room Visits for Cardiovascular and Respiratory Diseases. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 428.
Liu, S.-T.; Liao, C.-Y.; Kuo, C.-Y.; Kuo, H.-W. The Effects of PM2.5 from Asian Dust Storms on Emergency Room Visits for Cardiovascular and Respiratory Diseases. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health2017, 14, 428.
Liu, S.-T.; Liao, C.-Y.; Kuo, C.-Y.; Kuo, H.-W. The Effects of PM2.5 from Asian Dust Storms on Emergency Room Visits for Cardiovascular and Respiratory Diseases. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 428.
Abstract
A case-crossover study examined how PM2.5 from Asian Dust Storms (ADS) affects the number of emergency room (ER) admissions for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and respiratory diseases (RDs). Our data indicated that PM2.5 concentration from ADS was highly correlated with ER visits for CVDs and RDs. The odds ratios (OR) increased by 2.92 (95% CI: 1.22-5.08) and 1.86 (95% CI: 1.30-2.91) per increase 10 µg/m3 in PM2.5 levels, for CVDs and RDs, respectively. A 10 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5 from ADSs was significantly associated with increase in ER visits for CVDs among those 65 years of age and older (an increase of 2.77 in OR) and for females (an increase of 3.09 in OR). In contrast, PM2.5 levels had a significant impact on RD ER visits among those under 65 years of age (OR=1.77). The risk of ER visits for CVDs increased on the day when the ADS occurred in Taiwan and the day after (lag 0 and lag 1); the corresponding risk increase for RDs only increased on the fifth day after the ADS (lag 5). In Taiwan’s late winter and spring, the severity of ER visits for CVDs and RDs increases. Environmental protection agencies should employ an early warning system for ADS to reduce high-risk groups’ exposure to PM2.5.
Keywords
Air pollution, PM2.5, emergency room, Asian dust storms, case-crossover
Subject
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Environmental Science
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
