Remarks on Ambient Air Pollution and Health Outcomes

Background. Ambient air pollution is a recognized risk factor for multiple health conditions. For some health problems, the impact of air pollution is particularly evident to the patients in a specific age range. Nonsimultaneous exposures to two or more air pollutants may have different relationships with health outcomes than do simultaneous exposures. Methods. Case-crossover technique was used to analyze data on emergency department (ED) visits for ischemic heart disease (IHD), epistaxis, and upper respiratory infection (URI). Conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals corresponding to an increase in an interquartile range of air pollutant concentrations. Results. The results for IHD show that for older patients (age 60+ years), the association between sulphur dioxide (SO2) exposure and IHD is weak. For ED visits for epistaxis (O3 and SO2 in one model) and URI (O3 and NO2 in one model), air pollutants lagged differently in the common model indicated significant statistical associations but not for common lags. Conclusion. The study findings, based on analyzed examples, suggest that (i) IHD cases in older age are less