Association of Ambient Air Pollution with Respiratory Hospitalization in Eastern China

In order to evaluate the effects of acute air pollution exposures on the health of respiratory system, respiratory hospital admissions data at community-based hospitals and air quality data were collected from 1st January, 2002 to 31st December, 2005 in L District of Jinan, Shandong province. On the basis of controlling for some confounding factors, such as the long-term trend of hospital admissions, 'day of the week' (DOW) effect, meteorological factor and so on, with semi-parametric generalized additive model (GAM) being employed, the regression model was established. Results showed that PM₁₀, SO₂ and NO₂ were all associated with increased risk of respiratory hospital admissions. The best lag days for PM₁₀, NO₂ were current day (lag 0) and three days before (lag 3), while average moving within four days was best suitable (avg03) for SO₂. The effect of a 10 mug/m³ rise in PM₁₀ was estimated to represent a 0.38% (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.24%-0.53%) increase in respiratory hospital admissions. 1.48% (95% CI: 1.24%-1.72% ) increase for a 10 mug/m³ increase in SO₂ , and 0.77% (95% CI: 0.36%-1.18%) for a 10 mug/m³ increase in NO₂ were also observed. Female were more susceptible than the male to pollutant. Relative risk for PM₁₀ and SO₂ in warm seasons were larger than in cold seasons.