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Association between air pollution and emergency room admission for eye diseases in Rome, Italy: A time-series analysis.
- Source :
-
Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987) [Environ Pollut] 2024 Feb 15; Vol. 343, pp. 123279. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Dec 29. - Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- Eye diseases impose a significant burden on health services due to high case numbers. However, exposure to outdoor air pollution is seldom mentioned as potential harmful factor. We conducted a time-series analysis in Rome, Italy, to estimate the association between daily mean concentration of NO <subscript>2</subscript> , PM <subscript>10</subscript> and PM <subscript>2.5</subscript> and daily number of emergency room (ER) admissions for a selected cluster of eye diseases from 2006 to 2016. We used Poisson regression adjusted for time trend, population decrease during summer vacations and holidays, day of week, apparent temperature (hot and cold) and daily concentration of nine pollen species. We observed 581,868 ER admissions during the study period. 44.74% of cases were observed in subjects with less than 20 years, 19.50% in 51-65 age category and 13.4% among children (0-14 years). No differences between sexes were recorded. Mean values of pollutant concentrations were 54.75, 31.01 and 18.14 μg/m <superscript>3</superscript> for NO <subscript>2</subscript> , PM <subscript>10</subscript> and PM <subscript>2.5</subscript> respectively. The air temperature ranged from -1 °C to 32.5 °C, with a mean value of 16 °C (SD = 6.88). The apparent temperature spaced from -3.58 °C to 34.08 °C (mean = 15.61 °C, SD = 8.5). The highest percent risk increases for 10 μg/m <superscript>3</superscript> increases of the three pollutants were observed at lag0-1 day (1.3%, 0.63-1.98 for PM <subscript>2.5</subscript> ; 1.03%, 0.56-1.51 for PM <subscript>10</subscript> and 0.6%, 0.13-1.07 for NO <subscript>2</subscript> ). Risk increased significantly also at lag0 and lag0-5 day for each pollutant. Secondary analyses showed higher effects in the elderly compared to younger subjects. No differences emerged between sexes. The dose response analysis suggested of possible effects on ER admission risk also at low-level concentrations of PM <subscript>2.5</subscript> . A strong confounding effect of pollen was not detected. RESULTS: of this study are coherent with previous analyses. Speculation can be done about the biological mechanisms that link air pollution to eye damage.<br />Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.<br /> (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
- Subjects :
- Child
Humans
Aged
Infant, Newborn
Infant
Child, Preschool
Adolescent
Rome epidemiology
Nitrogen Dioxide analysis
Italy epidemiology
Particulate Matter analysis
Emergency Service, Hospital
China epidemiology
Air Pollutants analysis
Air Pollution analysis
Eye Diseases chemically induced
Eye Diseases epidemiology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1873-6424
- Volume :
- 343
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987)
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 38160774
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2023.123279