An exploratory study on the association between air pollution and health problems (ICD-10) with an emphasis on respiratory diseases

Abstract

Air pollution is a growing public health concern, with diverse impacts on human health. This study aimed to conduct an exploratory analysis of the associations between air pollutants (O₃, PM_2.5, and PM₁₀) and health outcomes, using ICD-10 Chapters, across 24 cities with different dimensions in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Three models were developed for both annual and monthly data: one encompassing all 24 cities (Model 1), another with medium and small-sized cities (Model 2), and the last exclusively focusing on small cities (Model 3). Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted with air pollutants and meteorological variables as independent variables, and hospitalization rates within each ICD-10 Chapters and specific respiratory diseases as dependent variables. Our analysis revealed significant positive associations among diverse chapters of the ICD-10 and air pollutants, with Model 3 exhibiting the most robust and significant positive associations with 12 chapters of the ICD-10 (Chapters: II, V, VI, VII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, and XXI), highlighting the broad impact of pollution on human health beyond traditional respiratory and cardiovascular concerns. Moreover, positive associations were identified with specific respiratory diseases, including asthma, pneumonia, bronchiolitis, and acute bronchitis. Temperature, precipitation, and wind speed emerged as the meteorological factors most frequently associated with multiple health outcomes and ICD chapters. Notably, our findings reveal distinct patterns in associations across cities with different population sizes, highlighting the importance of considering contextual factors, such as city size, when assessing the health impacts of air pollution.