Air pollution and mortality in East Berlin during the winters of 1981-1989.
BACKGROUND
The relationship between air pollution and mortality in East Berlin was examined for the winters of 1981-1989.


METHODS
Regression analysis included daily mean levels of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and suspended particulates (SP), and was controlled for temperature, humidity, week-day, month, and year. Moving averages of previous pollution were also used.


RESULTS
Each pollutant was a significant contributor to excess mortality. The strongest association was found for mortality lagged for 2 days, which depended significantly on the level of SP (beta for in SP = 0.876; P = 0.008) and SO2 (beta for in SO2 = 0.635; P = 0.012), when regressed separately. When omitting days with pollutant concentrations above 150 micrograms m-3, the pollutant-mortality relationship was linear, and a 100 micrograms m-3 increase was associated with a 6.1% (SP) and 4.5% (SO2) mortality increase 2 days later, when pollutants were considered separately; this was reduced to 4.6% (SP) and 2.8% (SO2) increase, when both were considered simultaneously.


CONCLUSIONS
The results show that short-term associations between air pollutants and mortality in East Berlin did exist during the winters 1981-1989. Since the coefficients for SP and SO2 dropped when controlling for the other pollutant species, a similar strength of association with mortality for both pollutants was found.
Rahlenbeck
S I
SI
Gondar College of Medical Sciences, Ethiopia.
Kahl
H
H
D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001604:Berlin / Q000453:epidemiology; D005859:Germany, East / Q000453:epidemiology; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008499:Medical Records; D009026:Mortality; D012621:Seasons; D013458:Sulfur Dioxide / Q000009:adverse effects
D000393:Air Pollutants; D013458:Sulfur Dioxide