Health effects of air pollution measured by outpatient visits.

An association between air pollution and various diseases has been demonstrated over the last three decades by examining vital statistics, epidemiologic surveys, and hospital data. This study examines the association between air pollutants and diagnoses made at outpatient visits to a family practice center during an acute episode of air pollution. A strong positive correlation was found between average weekly pollutant levels and the percentage of diagnoses of respiratory tract and cardiac illnesses. Not only do these findings add to the growing evidence of untoward health effects of air pollution; they also suggest a simple method of monitoring such effects in an ambulatory setting.