Abstract
Although the effect of air pollution on respiratory health has been identified, few studies can be available to evaluate the association of air pollution with hospital visits for children’s pneumonia in China. To explore whether high concentrations of air pollutants (including PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and SO2) are related to hospital visits for pneumonia in children, we conducted a population-based time-series study in Ningbo, China, from January 1st, 2014 to November 1st, 2015. We used a generalized additive Poisson regression model to calculate risk ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the associations of air pollutants and hospital visits for pneumonia in children and found that these four pollutants were associated with the increased hospital visits for pneumonia in children (1.3% for PM2.5, 1.0% for PM10, 2.9% for NO2, 5.0% for SO2 per 10-μg/m3 increase in PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and SO2, respectively). Stronger associations were observed in the cold seasons and among children under 5 years.
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Funding
This study was supported and funded by the Air Pollution and Health Research Center, Zhejiang University (14.585302-001) and Yinzhou Special Foundation for Agricultural and Social Development (YZ-STB-2015-96).
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This study did not contain confidential patient data. Committee of Ethics, Yinzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention approved this study. The patient’s consent to participate is not applicable in this study.
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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues
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Li, D., Wang, Jb., Zhang, Zy. et al. Effects of air pollution on hospital visits for pneumonia in children: a two-year analysis from China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 10049–10057 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1192-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1192-2