1. Assessing the impact of specific PM 2.5 -Bound metallic elements on asthma emergency department visits: A case-crossover study in Taiwan.
- Author
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Kono M, Su TY, Chang YY, Chou CC, Lee CT, Chen PC, and Wu WT
- Subjects
- Taiwan epidemiology, Humans, Male, Female, Middle Aged, Adult, Aged, Adolescent, Young Adult, Metals analysis, Child, Environmental Exposure adverse effects, Child, Preschool, Infant, Emergency Room Visits, Asthma epidemiology, Asthma chemically induced, Emergency Service, Hospital statistics & numerical data, Particulate Matter analysis, Cross-Over Studies, Air Pollutants analysis
- Abstract
Objectives: This study aims to assess the specific PM
2.5 -bound metallic elements that contribute to asthma emergency department visits by using a case-crossover study design., Methods: This study analyzed data from 11,410 asthma emergency department visits as case group and 22,820 non-asthma onset dates occurring one week and two weeks preceding the case day as controls from 2017 to 2020. PM2.5 monitoring data and 35 PM.2.5 -bound metallic elements from six different regions in Taiwan were collected. Conditional logistic regression models were used to assess the relationship between asthma and PM2.5 -bound metallic elements., Results: Our investigation revealed a statistically significant risk of asthma emergency department visits associated with PM2.5 exposure at lag 0, 1, 2, and 3 during autumn. Additionally, PM2.5 -bound hafnium (Hf), thallium (Tl), rubidium (Rb), and aluminum (Al) exhibited a consistently significant positive correlation with asthma emergency department visits at lags 1, 2, and 3. In stratified analyses by area, age, and sex, PM2.5 -bound Hf showed a significant and consistent correlation., Conclusions: This study provides evidence of PM2.5 -bound metallic elements effects in asthma exacerbations, particularly for Hf. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the origins of these metallic elements and pursuing emission reductions to mitigate regional health risks., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:Wei-Te Wu reports administrative support was provided by Department of Atmospheric Environment, Ministry of Environment, Executive Yuan, Taiwan. Wei-Te Wu reports administrative support was provided by Health and Welfare Data Science Center, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Executive Yuan, Taiwan. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)- Published
- 2024
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