title: The Effects of Air Pollution on Ischemic Stroke Admission Rate.
abstract: The present study aimed to determine the relationship between the level of air pollutants and the rate of ischemic stroke (IS) admissions to hospitals. In this retrospective cross-sectional study, stroke admissions (January-March 2012 and 2013) to an emergency department and air pollution and meteorological data were gathered. The relationship between air pollutant levels and hospital admission rates were evaluated using the generalize additive model. In all 379 patients with IS were referred to the hospital (52.5% male; mean age 68.2±13.3 years). Both transient (p<0.001) and long-term (p<0.001) rises in CO level increases the risk of IS. Increased weekly (p<0.001) and monthly (p<0.001) average O3 levels amplifies this risk, while a transient increase in NO2 (p<0.001) and SO2 (p<0.001) levels has the same effect. Long-term changes in PM10 (p<0.001) and PM2.5 (p<0.001) also increase the risk of IS. The findings showed that the level of air pollutants directly correlates with the number of stroke admissions to the emergency department.
authors: Department of Emergency Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Hossein
authors: H
authors: Alimohammadi
authors: Department of Emergency Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Sara
authors: S
authors: Fakhri
authors: Department of Emergency Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Hojjat
authors: H
authors: Derakhshanfar
authors: Social Development and Health Promotion Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
authors: Seyed-Mostafa
authors: SM
authors: Hosseini-Zijoud
authors: Department of Emergency Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Saeed
authors: S
authors: Safari
authors: Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Hamid Reza
authors: HR
authors: Hatamabadi
keywords: Air pollutants; Patient admission; Stroke