[Studies on the effects of air pollution on health of the population of Annaberg district with special reference to acute respiratory diseases].

From 1978 to 1988 in the district of Annaberg (Saxony, state frontier to Czechoslovakia) investigations were accomplished to assess the state of health in people living there. The southern part of the district rises to a crest (Saxon Ore Mountains). It is influenced by air pollution from Northern Bohemia. The incidence of acute infections of the upper airways showed a remarkable dependence on the degree of air pollution in the age groups up to 18 years, especially in the group of infants. In the polluted area (high overload) the morbidity of infants was 7-fold in relation to the unpolluted area of the district. In the polluted area when temperature was lower than -5 degrees C the incidence of acute respiratory infections in infants closely correlated (r = 0.90) with the concentration of SO2 in ambient air. In the town Annaberg (urban air pollution) the frequency of absence of children from school caused by acute respiratory infections was elevated in relation to the rural parts of the district, but there were no differences among these rural parts. In the polluted area the severe stages of cardiorespiratory diseases were passed through with evident acceleration. In healthy adults living there the mean values for immunoglobulins of class A and class M tended to be elevated, and in school children the antibody titers against influenza A and B were increased.