title: Effect of dust storm events on daily emergency admissions for cardiovascular diseases.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dust storm is a meteorological phenomenon and dust particles have been suspected as harmful to heart and lungs. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between coarse particles and emergency hospital admissions for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in Hong Kong.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data on mean daily emergency admissions for CVD to major hospitals in Hong Kong, concentrations of air pollutants and meteorological variables from January 1998 to December 2002 were obtained from several government departments. We identified 5 dust storm days during the study period. Independent t-tests were used to compare the mean daily number of admissions on dust storm and non-dust storm days. Case-crossover analysis, using the Poisson regression, was used to examine the effects of coarse particles' concentration on emergency hospital admissions for CVD. A marginally significant increase in emergency hospital admissions for ischemic heart disease (IHD) was found with RR=1.04 (95% confidence interval: 1.00, 1.08) per 10 µg/m(3) increase in the concentration of coarse particles.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrated a marginally significant increase in emergency hospital admissions for IHD on the day of dust storm events in Hong Kong, when the levels of coarse particles were very high. Further studies are required to assess the role of coarse particles on cardiac health.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong. twwong@cuhk.edu.hk
authors.forename: Wilson W S
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Tam
authors.forename: Tze Wai
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Andromeda H S
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D004391:Dust; D004630:Emergencies / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006723:Hong Kong / Q000453:epidemiology; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000209:etiology; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000009:adverse effects; D014919:Wind
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D004391:Dust; D052638:Particulate Matter