title: Association between air pollution and ischemic cardiovascular emergency room visits.
abstract: This study observed the relationship between air pollutants and ischemic cardiac diseases such as angina and acute myocardial infarction in a representative cardiovascular center emergency room in São Paulo, Brazil. Daily emergency room admissions to the Institute of the Heart of the University of São Paulo, as well as data concerning daily air pollutant levels and meteorological variables, were collected from January 1994 to August 1995. Generalized additive Poisson regressions were fitted to the logarithm of the expected values of total emergency room visits due to angina or acute myocardial infarction, controlling for smooth functions of season and weather and indicators for days of the week. All investigated pollutants were positively associated with ischemic cardiovascular disease emergency room visits, and the time lags were relatively short, but only CO presented an effect that was statistically significant. An interquartile range increase in CO was associated with an increase of 6.4% (95% CI: 0.7-12.1) in daily angina or acute myocardial infarction emergency room visits. This result did not change when estimates were done using linear models and natural cubic splines. This study showed that air pollution has a role in cardiovascular morbidity in São Paulo, reinforcing the necessity for air pollutant emission-controlling polices in urban areas.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Experimental Air Pollution, Department of Pathology, University of São Paulo Medical School, Av. Dr. Arnaldo 455, 1 Andar, Sala 1105, Cerqueira Cesar, CEP 01246-903, São Paulo, Brazil. calin@uol.com.br <calin@uol.com.br>
authors.forename: Chin An
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Luiz Alberto
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Amador Pereira
authors.forename: Gleice Margarete
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: de Souza Conceição
authors.forename: Humberto S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kishi
authors.forename: Rodolfo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Milani
authors.forename: Alfésio Luís
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Ferreira Braga
authors.forename: Paulo Hilario
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Nascimento Saldiva
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001938:Brazil; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009017:Morbidity; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014505:Urban Population
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants