Barnett Adrian G, Williams Gail M, Schwartz Joel, Neller Anne H, Best Trudi L, Petroeschevsky Anna L, Simpson Rod W
School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Herston, Australia.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2005 Jun 1;171(11):1272-8. doi: 10.1164/rccm.200411-1586OC. Epub 2005 Mar 11.
The strength of the association between outdoor air pollution and hospital admissions in children has not yet been well defined.
To estimate the impact of outdoor air pollution on respiratory morbidity in children after controlling for the confounding effects of weather, season, and other pollutants.
The study used data on respiratory hospital admissions in children (three age groups: < 1, 1-4, and 5-14 years) for five cities in Australia and two in New Zealand. Time series of daily numbers of hospital admissions were analyzed using the case-crossover method; the results from cities were combined using a random-effects meta-analysis.
Significant increases across the cities were observed for hospital admissions in children for pneumonia and acute bronchitis (0, 1-4 years), respiratory disease (0, 1-4, 5-14 years), and asthma (5-14 years). These increases were found for particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 microm (PM2.5) and less than 10 microm (PM10), nephelometry, NO2, and SO2. The largest association found was a 6.0% increase in asthma admissions (5-14 years) in relation to a 5.1-ppb increase in 24-hour NO2.
This study found strong and consistent associations between outdoor air pollution and short-term increases in childhood hospital admissions. A number of different pollutants showed significant associations, and these were distinct from any temperature (warm or cool) effects.
室外空气污染与儿童住院之间关联的强度尚未得到明确界定。
在控制天气、季节及其他污染物的混杂效应后，评估室外空气污染对儿童呼吸道疾病的影响。
该研究使用了澳大利亚五个城市和新西兰两个城市儿童呼吸道疾病住院数据（三个年龄组：<1岁、1 - 4岁和5 - 14岁）。采用病例交叉法分析每日住院人数的时间序列；各城市的结果通过随机效应荟萃分析进行合并。
在各城市中，肺炎和急性支气管炎（0、1 - 4岁）、呼吸道疾病（0、1 - 4、5 - 14岁）以及哮喘（5 - 14岁）患儿的住院人数均有显著增加。这些增加与直径小于2.5微米（PM2.5）和小于10微米（PM10）的颗粒物、浊度法、二氧化氮（NO2）和二氧化硫（SO2）有关。发现的最大关联是，24小时二氧化氮增加5.1 ppb时，哮喘住院人数（5 - 14岁）增加6.0%。
本研究发现室外空气污染与儿童住院短期增加之间存在强烈且一致关联。多种不同污染物显示出显著关联，且这些关联与任何温度（温暖或凉爽）效应均不同。
