Air pollution and hospital admissions and deaths due to respiratory infections in megacity of Tehran: A time series analysis

Zahra Namvar; Mostafa Hadei; Seyed Saeed Hashemi; Elahe Shahhosseini; Philip K. Hopke; Masoumeh Rahmatinia; Shahriyar Bazzazpour; Majid Kermani; Anooshiravan Mohseni Bandpey; Abbas Shahsavani

doi:10.18502/japh.v6i1.7601

Zahra Namvar Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Mostafa Hadei Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Seyed Saeed Hashemi Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Elahe Shahhosseini Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Philip K. Hopke Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, USA
Masoumeh Rahmatinia Student Research Committee, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Shahriyar Bazzazpour Student Research Committee, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Majid Kermani Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Anooshiravan Mohseni Bandpey Air Quality and Climate Change Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Abbas Shahsavani Air Quality and Climate Change Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/japh.v6i1.7601

Keywords: Outdoor air pollutant; Respiratory diseases; Hospital admissions; Deaths

Abstract

Introduction: Air pollution is one of the main causes for the significant increase of respiratory infections in Tehran. In the present study, we investigated the associations between short-term exposure to ambient air pollutants with the hospital admissions and deaths.

Materials and methods: Health data from 39915 hospital admissions and 2459 registered deaths associated with these hospital admissions for respiratory infections were obtained from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education during 2014-2017. We used the distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) for the analyses.

Results: There was a statistically positive association between PM2.5 and AURI in the age group of 16 years and younger at lags 6 (RR 1.31; 1.05-1.64) and 7 (RR 1.50; 1.09-2.06). AURI admissions was associated with O3 in the age group of 16 and 65 years at lag 7 with RR 1.13 (1.00-1.27). ALRI admissions was associated with CO in the age group of 65 years and older at lag 0 with RR 1.12 (1.02-1.23). PM10 was associated with ALRI daily hospital admissions at lag 0 for males. ALRI admissions were associated with NO2 for females at lag 0. There was a positive association between ALRI deaths and SO2 in the age group of 65 years and older at lags 4 and 5 with RR 1.04 (1.00-1.09) and 1.03 (1.00-1.07), respectively.

Conclusion: Exposure to outdoor air pollutants including PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NO2, O3, and CO was associated with hospital admissions for AURI and ALRI at different lags. Moreover, exposure to SO2 was associated with deaths for ALRI.