The effects of air pollution on health have been studied worldwide.
Given that air pollution tri
ggers oxidative stress and inflammation, it is plausible that hi
gh levels of air pollutants cause hi
gher number of hospitalisations. This study aimed to assess the impact of air pollution on the emer
gency hospitalisation for respiratory disease in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil. The study was divided in two parts: Part I specifically addressin
g the air pollution assessment and Part II addressin
g the health assessment. Accordin
gly, this Part II aimed to estimate the association between the concentrations of PM
10, SO
2 and CO observed in Rio de Janeiro and the number of emer
gency hospitalisations at a central hospital due to respiratory diseases. The pollutant concentrations were measured at two different sites in Rio de Janeiro, but the excess relative risks were calculated based on the concentrations observed at one of the sites, where limits were
generally exceeded more frequently, between September 2000 and December 2005. A time series analysis was performed usin
g the number of hospitalisations, divided in three cate
gories (children until 1 year old, children a
ged between 1 and 5 years old and elderly with 65 years old or more) as independent variable, the concentrations of pollutants as dependent variables and temperature, relative humidity, lon
g term trend, and seasonality as confounders. Data were analysed usin
g generalised additive models with smoothin
g for some of the dependent variables. Results showed an excess risk of hospitalisation for respiratory disease hi
gher than 2%per 10 渭
g m
鈭?#xA0;3 increase in PM
10 concentrations for children under 5 years old, of 2%per 10 渭
g m
鈭?#xA0;3 increase in SO
2 for elderly above 65 years old and around 0.1%per 10 渭
g m
鈭?#xA0;3 increase in CO for children under 1 year and elderly. Other studies have found associations that are in a
greement with the results achieved in this study.
The study suggests that the ambient levels of air pollutants experienced in Rio de Janeiro between 2000 and 2005 were linked to the number of hospitalisations for respiratory diseases among children and elderly.