title: Non-anthropogenic dust exposure and asthma medication purchase in children.
abstract: Air pollution has been shown to increase frequency of asthma attacks, as usually measured by hospitalisation rates. We hypothesise that purchase of asthma reliever medications will reflect a broader association between the environmental exposure and asthma exacerbations. In a time series analysis, we estimated the association of dust storms with mild asthma manifestations, as indicated by medication purchases, during 2005-2011. We compared our results with the estimation of the association of dust storms with hospitalisations due to asthma and asthma-like symptoms. We detected 289 dust storms characterised by high levels of particulate matter <10 μm in diameter. We identified 42,920 children with asthma, wheezing or asthma-like symptoms, of whom 2418 were hospitalised. We observed a higher risk of asthma medication purchase on the day of a mild dust storm (relative risk 1.05, 95% CI 1.00-1.10). The next peak in drug purchases was 3 days later and was more pronounced among Bedouin-Arab children. Stratified analyses showed higher risks for hospitalisation among Bedouin-Arab children; especially among children living in temporary houses (relative risk 1.33, 95% CI 1.04-1.71). We observed an increased risk of asthma medication purchase associated with mild dust storms. The risk observed for hospitalisation was more pronounced among the rural Bedouin-Arab population.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel Clinical Research Center, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Maayan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yitshak-Sade
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Center, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Novack
authors.affiliation: Dept of Geography and Environmental Development, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Itzhak
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Katra
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel Dept of Pediatrics, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gorodischer
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel Dept of Pediatrics, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Asher
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tal
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel novack@bgu.ac.il.
authors.forename: Lena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Novack
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001249:Asthma / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D019570:Inhalation Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents; D004391:Dust; D052638:Particulate Matter