Acute respiratory symptoms in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and in other subjects living near a coal-fired plant.
Daily symptom rates in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and in other subjects with presumed high sensitivity to air pollution who lived near a coal-fired plant were compared with 24-hr ambient air concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, soot, and suspended particles as well as with emissions from the plant. The mean concentrations of each of the pollutants during the 4-month study period were below 30 micrograms/m3, and no single 24-hr concentration exceeded 100 micrograms/m3. There were no consistent associations between plant emissions and pollutant levels or between these two variables and daily symptom rates. The results indicate that the coal-fired plant was not of major importance for the occurrence of acute respiratory symptoms in the surrounding population.
D000208:Acute Disease; D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D003031:Coal / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007220:Industrial Waste / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis*; D008173:Lung Diseases, Obstructive / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D009585:Nitrogen Dioxide / Q000032:analysis; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D013458:Sulfur Dioxide / Q000032:analysis; D013548:Sweden
D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational; D003031:Coal; D007220:Industrial Waste; D013458:Sulfur Dioxide; D009585:Nitrogen Dioxide