The Relationship Between Short-Term Exposure to PM_(10) and Emergency Room Visits in Urban Area Near Copper Smelter

摘要

A large number of studies have examined the effect of air pollution on mortality and morbidity. However, the most of those studies have investigated associations between air pollution and only one or two specific diseases such as cardiovascular, pulmonary and mental diseases or pregnancy-related problems. This study aimed at exploring the risk effect of particulate matter air pollution on the emergency room visits for all these diseases in the city of Bor, Serbia. The data on daily emergency room visits between April 2014 and December 2018 as well as daily measurements of PM_(10) from 4 stations were collected. The Generalized-Additive Model (GAM) with quasi-Poisson regression was applied to assess the connection between daily PM_(10) and emergency room visits for each outcome. Calendar time, temperature and relative humidity were incorporated as confounding variables. Each 10 μg/m~3 increase in PM_(10) at lag 0∶3 day was associated with 0.33 (95 CI: 0.11, 0.54) and 1.22 (95 CI: 0.73, 1.71) increments in admission for cerebrovascular diseases and pregnancy-related problems, respectively.