Air pollution and emergency department visits for chest pain and weakness in Edmonton, Canada.
OBJECTIVE
Chest pain or weakness can be first signal of health problems. Many studies demonstrate that these conditions can be related to air pollution. This work uses time-series data to investigate the association.


METHODS
This is a study of 68,714 emergency department (ED) visits for chest pain (ICD-9: 786) and of 66,092 ED visits for weakness (ICD-9: 780). The hierarchical method was applied to analyse the associations between daily counts of ED visits for chest pain and weakness (separately) and the levels of the air pollutants and meteorological variables. The counts of visits for all patients, males and females were analysed separately by whole period (I-XII), warm (IV-IX) and cold (X-III).


RESULTS
The results are presented in the form of the excess risks associated with an increase in the interquartile range (IQR) for the pollutant. Chest pain: 2.4% (95% CI: 1.0-3.9) for CO, females, I-XII; 3.8% (95% CI: 0.0-7.8) for NO(2), males, IV-IX; 4.5% (95% CI: 0.9-8.3) for O(3) (1-day lagged), males, IV-IX; 2.8% (95% CI: 0.5-5.2), for PM(10), males, X-III; 2.0% (95% CI: 0.0-4.0), for SO(2), females, X-III; 2.1% (95% CI: 0.2-4.0) for PM(2.5), all, X-III. Weakness: 2.1% (95% CI: 0.4-3.7) for CO (2-day lagged), males, X-III; 3.4% (95% CI: 1.0-5.9) for NO(2) (2-day lagged), males, X-III; 2.4% (95% CI: 0.9-3.9) for SO(2), females, I-XII; 4.6% (95% CI: 1.0-8.2) for O(3) (1-day lagged), females, IV-IX.


CONCLUSIONS
Obtained findings provide support for the hypothesis that ED visits for chest pain and weakness are associated with exposure to ambient air pollution.
Szyszkowicz
Mieczysław
M
Air Health Effects Research Section, Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau, Health Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. mietek_szyszkowicz@hc-sc.gc.ca
Rowe
Brian
B
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D002637:Chest Pain / Q000139:chemically induced*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005221:Fatigue / Q000139:chemically induced*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006813:Humidity; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013696:Temperature; D055815:Young Adult
D000393:Air Pollutants