Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Zhejiang University School of Public Health, C217 Academic Building, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Xihu District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310058, China.
Research Center for Air Pollution and Health, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310058, China.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2017 Aug;24(23):18860-18869. doi: 10.1007/s11356-017-9279-8. Epub 2017 Jun 26.
Acute upper and lower respiratory infections are main causes of mortality and morbidity in children. Air pollution has been recognized as an important contributor to development and exacerbation of respiratory infections. However, few studies are available in China. In this study, we investigated the short-term effect of air pollution on hospital visits for acute upper and lower respiratory infections among children under 15 years in Ningbo, China. Poisson generalized models were used to estimate the associations between air pollution and hospital visits for acute upper and lower respiratory infections adjusted for temporal, seasonal, and meteorological effects. We found that four pollutants (PM, PM, NO, and SO) were significantly associated with hospital visits for acute upper and lower respiratory infections. The effect estimates for acute upper respiratory infections tended to be higher (PM ER = 3.46, 95% CI 2.18, 4.76; PM ER = 2.81, 95% CI 1.93, 3.69; NO ER = 11.27, 95% CI 8.70, 13.89; SO ER = 15.17, 95% CI 11.29, 19.19). Significant associations for gaseous pollutants (NO and SO) were observed after adjustment for particular matter. Stronger associations were observed among older children and in the cold period. Our study suggested that short-term exposure to outdoor air pollution was associated with hospital visits for acute upper and lower respiratory infections in Ningbo.
急性上下呼吸道感染是儿童死亡和发病的主要原因。空气污染已被认为是导致呼吸道感染发生和恶化的一个重要因素。然而，中国的相关研究较少。本研究在中国宁波，调查了空气污染对 15 岁以下儿童急性上下呼吸道感染就诊的短期影响。采用泊松广义模型，在考虑时间、季节和气象效应的情况下，估计了空气污染与急性上下呼吸道感染就诊之间的关联。结果表明，四种污染物（PM、PM、NO 和 SO）与急性上下呼吸道感染就诊显著相关。急性上呼吸道感染的效应估计值往往更高（PM ER=3.46，95%CI 2.18，4.76；PM ER=2.81，95%CI 1.93，3.69；NO ER=11.27，95%CI 8.70，13.89；SO ER=15.17，95%CI 11.29，19.19）。在调整特定物质后，气态污染物（NO 和 SO）与上呼吸道感染之间存在显著关联。在年龄较大的儿童和寒冷时期，观察到更强的关联。本研究表明，短期暴露于室外空气污染与宁波急性上下呼吸道感染就诊有关。
