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Association between air pollution and emergency department visits for upper respiratory tract infection inLanzhou, China

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Abstract

There is limited evidence regarding the associations between air pollution and emergency hospital visits for upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) in the arid regions of northwest China. We collected daily emergency department (ED) visits for URTI from three hospitals in Lanzhou during January 2014 and December 2018, as well as daily air pollutants and meteorological factors. In the present study, generalized additive model with quasi-Poisson regression was used to evaluate the relationship between short-term exposure to ambient pollutants and daily emergency hospital visits for URTI in Lanzhou, China. Furthermore, subgroup analyses were conducted by gender (male and female), age (0–14, 15–64, and ≥ 65 years)), and season (cold season, warm season). The results of the single-pollutant model show that the associations of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, and CO with URTI ED visits were all statistically significant, whereas we observed insignificant associations of O38h. The highest association of each pollutant with hospital emergency visits was observed with PM2.5 (5.302% (95% CI: 3.202, 7.445)), PM10 (0.808% (95% CI: 0.291, 1.328)), SO2 (10.607% (95% CI: 5.819, 15.611)), and NO2 (5.325% (95% CI: 2.379, 8.357)) at lag 07 for an increase of 10 ug/m3 in concentrations of the pollutants. Percentage increase for each 1-mg/m3 increase in CO was 20.799% (95% CI: 11.834, 30.482) at lag 07. In the stratification analyses, females were more susceptible to PM2.5 and PM10, while males were more sensitive to the effects of SO2, NO2, and CO, and the higher association effect of four pollutants (PM2.5, SO2, NO2, and CO) on hospital visits for URTI among children (0–14 years). The associations appeared to be stronger in the cool season than in the warm season. This study suggests that short-term exposure to air pollution, especially to SO2 and CO, was associated with increased risk of hospital emergency visits for URTI in Lanzhou, China. Relevant strategies and health interventions should be strengthened to reduce the air pollution level in the future.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to confidentiality agreements but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

GAM:

Generalized additive model

ER:

Excessive risk

ED:

Emergency department

QAIC:

Quasi Akaike information criterion

URTI:

Upper respiratory tract infection

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Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71861026), and the Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province, China (Grant No. 21JR7RA864).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, Lanzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Yurong Liu, Yanru Wang & Jiyuan Dong

  2. Gansu Provincial Hospital, Lanzhou, 730050, People’s Republic of China

    Jiancheng Wang

  3. Department of Gerontal Respiratory Medicine, The First Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Hairong Bao

  4. School of Economics and Management, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou, 730050, People’s Republic of China

    Guangyu Zhai

Authors
  1. Yurong Liu
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  2. Yanru Wang
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  4. Jiancheng Wang
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  5. Hairong Bao
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  6. Guangyu Zhai
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Contributions

Jiyuan Dong contributed to the conception or design of the work. Yurong Liu, Yanru Wang, and Jiancheng Wang contributed to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work. Jiyuan Dong drafted the manuscript. Hairong Bao, and Guangyu Zhai critically revised the manuscript. All gave final approval and agree to be accountable for all aspects of work ensuring integrity and accuracy.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jiyuan Dong.

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The present study is considered exempt from institutional review board approval since the data used was collected for administrative purpose without any personal identifiers.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Responsible editor: Lotfi Aleya

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Liu, Y., Wang, Y., Dong, J. et al. Association between air pollution and emergency department visits for upper respiratory tract infection inLanzhou, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 28816–28828 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17932-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17932-2

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