Short-term relationships between emergency hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and fine particulate air pollution in Beirut, Lebanon

• Published in: Environmental monitoring and assessment 2015-04, Vol.187 (4), p.196-10, Article 196
• Main Authors: Nakhlé, Myriam Mrad, Farah, Wehbeh, Ziadé, Nelly, Abboud, Maher, Salameh, Dominique, Annesi-Maesano, Isabella
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Air Pollutants - analysis; Air pollution; Air Pollution - analysis; Air Pollution - statistics & numerical data; Air pollution control; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Beirut; Cardiovascular diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases - epidemiology; Child; Diseases; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Ecotoxicology; Emergency medical care; Emergency medical services; Environment; Environmental Exposure - statistics & numerical data; Environmental Management; Environmental Monitoring; Female; Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data; Hospitals; Human health and pathology; Humans; International studies; Lebanon - epidemiology; Life Sciences; Male; Models, Theoretical; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Mortality; Outdoor air quality; Particulate emissions; Particulate matter; Particulate Matter - analysis; Patient admissions; Pollutants; Pollution control; Public health; Respiratory Tract Diseases - epidemiology; Risk; Risk assessment; Time series
• ISSN: 0167-6369; 1573-2959
• DOI: 10.1007/s10661-015-4409-6

High levels of major outdoor air pollutants have been documented in Lebanon, but their health effects remain unknown. The Beirut Air Pollution and Health Effects study aimed to determine the relationship between short-term variations in ambient concentrations of particulate matter (PM 10 and PM 2.5 ) and emergency hospital admissions in the city of Beirut, and whether susceptible groups are more greatly affected. An autoregressive Poisson model was used to evaluate the association between daily concentrations of particulate matter and respiratory and cardiovascular emergency hospital admissions after controlling for confounders. All variables were measured during 1 year from January 2012 to December 2012. Relative risks of admissions for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases were calculated for an increase in 10 μg.m −3 of pollutant concentrations. Total respiratory admissions were significantly associated with the levels of PM 10 (1.012 [95 % CI 1.004–1.02]) per 10 μg.m −3 rise in daily mean pollutant concentration for PM 10 and 1.016 [95 % CI 1.000–1.032] for PM 2.5 on the same day. With regard to susceptible groups, total respiratory admissions were associated with PM 2.5 and PM 10 within the same day in children (relative risk (RR), 1.013 and 1.014; 95 % confidence interval, 0.985–1.042 and 1.000–1.029 for PM 2.5 and PM 10 , respectively). Moreover, a nearly significant association was found between particles and total circulatory admissions for adults and elderly groups in the same day. These results are similar to other international studies. Therefore, air pollution control is expected to reduce the number of admissions of these diseases in Lebanon.