Time Series Analysis of Asthma Hospital Admissions and Air Quality in Sofia – A Pilot Study
Year: 2023
Type: conference-paper
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Asthma is a multifaceted inflammatory disease of the airways, which takes a heavy toll on public health and quality of life in Bulgaria. The present study aimed to investigate the short-term effects of air pollution on hospital admission for asthma in the city of Sofia. Daily admission counts and air pollutant concentrations (PM 2.5 , PM 10 , NO 2 , SO 2 , CO, and O 3 ) were obtained for Sofia in the period January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2018. Their associations were analyzed using negative binomial regressions with air pollution lagged over 0–7 days. In the child population, at some lags, 10 µg/m 3 increase in NO 2 increased the risk of hospital admission by up to 6%, SO 2 by 13%, and PM 2.5 by 3%. Results for O 3 were conflicting, even though at some lags the risk reached 5% per 10 µg/m 3 . At lag0, CO increased the risk of hospitalization in the group 0–4 years by 7.4%, which reached an IRR of 2.53 (95% CI: 1.27, 5.07) in the distributed lag models. It was estimated that approximately 6% of the admissions in children (5–14 years old) could be attributable to short-term PM 2.5 ≥ 15 µg/m 3 and NO 2 ≥ 25 µg/m 3 . Overall, short-term increases in some air pollutants in Sofia increased the risk of hospital admissions, more clearly among asthmatic children, over the following week. A small but non-trivial proportion of admissions in 5–14 years old children was attributable to air pollution.
Authors: Angel M. Dzhambov, Krasimira Dikova, Tzveta Georgieva, Plamen Mukhtarov, Reneta Dimitrova
Language: English
Subfield: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4322575501