The effects of air pollution on health have been studied worldwi
de. Given that air pollution triggers oxidative stress and inflammation, it is plausible that high levels of air pollutants cause higher number of hospitalisations. This study aimed to assess the impact of air pollution on the emergency hospitalisation for respiratory disease in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil. The study was divi
ded in two parts: Part I specifically addressing the air pollution assessment and Part II addressing the health assessment. Accordingly, 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 emergency 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 excee
ded more frequently, between September 2000 and December 2005. A time series analysis was performed using the number of hospitalisations, divi
ded in three categories (children until 1 year old, children aged between 1 and 5 years old and el
derly with 65 years old or more) as in
depen
dent variable, the concentrations of pollutants as
depen
dent variables and temperature, relative humidity, long term trend, and seasonality as confoun
ders. Data were analysed using generalised additive mo
dels with smoothing for some of the
depen
dent variables. Results showed an excess risk of hospitalisation for respiratory disease higher than 2%per 10 渭g m
鈭?#xA0;3 increase in PM
10 concentrations for children un
der 5 years old, of 2%per 10 渭g m
鈭?#xA0;3 increase in SO
2 for el
derly above 65 years old and around 0.1%per 10 渭g m
鈭?#xA0;3 increase in CO for children un
der 1 year and el
derly. Other studies have found associations that are in agreement 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.