Effects of variations in meteorological factors on daily hospital visits for asthma: A time-series study

• Published in: Environmental research 2020-03, Vol.182, p.109115, Article 109115
• Main Authors: Zhang, Hehua, Liu, Shu, Chen, Zongjiao, Zu, Biao, Zhao, Yuhong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air pollution; Barometric pressure; Humidity; Temperature; Time series; Wind speed
• ISSN: 0013-9351; 1096-0953
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.109115

Few studies have explored the relationships between meteorological factors and asthma. This study explored the associations between daily variations in meteorological factors and hospital visits for asthma among different ages, genders, and asthma subtypes in Shenyang, China. A distributed lag non-linear model with Poisson regression was used; confounding factors included day of the week, holidays, and seasonal patterns, and long-term trends and air pollutants were adjusted using natural cubic splines. The meteorological factor with the largest cumulative effect was barometric pressure, which increased the risk of hospital visits for adult asthma (relative risk [RR] = 2.414), followed by maximum wind speed, which increased hospital visits for asthma for children aged 0–5 years old (RR = 1.47), and pressure, which increased hospital visits for bronchial asthma (RR = 1.298). Meteorological factors showed stronger associations with asthma than air pollutants. Further research should focus more on the effects of meteorological factors on asthma. [Display omitted] •This is the largest time series study on the associations between meteorological factors and asthma in different gender, age and disease types in Northeast China.•Meteorological factors of max wind speed showed stronger associations with asthma than total air pollutants.•Cough variant asthma was more vulnerable to temperature than bronchial asthma, bronchial asthma were more vulnerable to barometric pressure.