The short-term effects of air pollution on hospital admissions in four Australian cities

Authors

Rod Simpson
Gail Williams
Anna Petroechevsky
Trudi Best
Geoff Morgan
Lynn Denison
Andrea Hinwood, Edith Cowan University
Gerard Neville

Document Type

Journal Article

Publisher

Wiley Publishers

Faculty

Faculty of Computing, Health and Science

School

School of Natural Sciences / Centre for Ecosystem Management

RAS ID

3417

Comments

Simpson, R., Williams, G., Petroeschevsky, A., Best, T., Morgan, G., Denison, L., ... & Neller, A. (2005). The short-term effects of air pollution on hospital admissions in four Australian cities. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 29(3), 213-221. Available here

Abstract

Background: This paper examines the short-term health effects of air pollution on daily hospital admissions in Australian cities (those considered comprise more than 50% of the Australian population) for the period 1996-99. Methods: The study used a similar protocol to overseas studies and derived single city and pooled estimates using different statistical approaches to assess the accuracy of the results. Results: There was little difference between the results derived from the different statistical approaches for cardiovascular admissions, while in those for respiratory admissions there were differences. For three of the four cities (for the other the results were positive but not significant), fine particles (measured by nephelometry - bsp) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) have a significant impact on cardiovascular admissions (for total cardiac admissions, RR=1.0856 for a one-unit increase in bsp (10^-4.m^-1 ), RR=1.0023 for a 1 ppb increase in NO₂). For three of the four cities (for the other, the results were negative and significant), fine particles, NO₂ and ozone have a significant impact on respiratory admissions (for total elderly respiratory admissions, RR=1.0552 per 1 unit (10^-4.m^-1) increase in bsp, RR=1.0027 per 1ppb increase in NO₂, RR=10014 per 1 ppb increase in ozone for elderly asthma and COPD admissions). In all analyses the particle and NO₂ impacts appear to be related. Conclusions: Similar to overseas studies, air pollution has an impact on hospital admissions in Australian cities, but there can be significant differences between cities.