Respiratory Hospital Admissions and Summertime Haze Air Pollution in Toronto, Ontario: Consideration of the Role of Acid Aerosols

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bates DV ; Hayes CG ; Ito K ; Lippmann, Morton ; Thurston GD
• Description:
  A study of air pollution and daily hospital admissions for respiratory causes was conducted in Toronto, Ontario. Fine aerosol (da < 2.5 micro m) samples were collected daily at a central city site during July and August 1986, 1987, and 1988 and were subsequently extracted and analyzed for daily particulate phase aerosol strong acidity (H+) and sulfates (SO4=). Daily counts of respiratory admissions to 22 acute care hospitals and daily meteorological and environmental data (e.g. ozone [O3], total suspended particulate matter [TSP], and thoracic particle mass [PM10] were also obtained. Regression analyses indicated that only the O3, H+, and SO4= associations with respiratory and asthma admissions remained consistently significant after controlling for temperature. Even after excluding days with maximum 1-hr O3 > 120 ppb, O3 was still strongly significant. In the various model specifications considered, the relative particle metric strengths of association with admissions were generally H+ > SO4= > FP > PM10 > TSP, indicating that particle size and composition are of central importance in defining the adverse human health effects of particulate matter. On average, summertime haze air pollution was associated with 24% of all respiratory admissions (21% with O3, 3% with H+). On peak pollution days, however, aerosol acidity yielded the highest relative risk estimates (e.g., RR = 1.5 at 391 nmole/m3 H+), and summertime haze was associated with roughly half of all respiratory admissions. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Acids Aerosols Air Pollution Environmental Monitoring Occupational Health Ozone Particulate Matter Respiratory System Safety
• Keywords:
  Air Monitoring Air Pollution Environmental Monitoring Health Effects Particulates Respiratory Health
• ISSN:
  0013-9351
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; North Carolina ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  271-290
• Volume:
  65
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20060062
• Citation:
  Environ Res 1994 May; 65(2):271-290
• CAS Registry Number:
  Ozone (CAS RN 10028-15-6)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1994
• Performing Organization:
  Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19920701
• Source Full Name:
  Environmental Research
• End Date:
  19970630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3190b21b64221f80eaf8b2572abfe88b79313b7cbb5b7bc1b1be6c0d38209e9acd19a37600c3ce9550339001981c403e49a6b157012ce3b812a70e53d9d22311
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/224095/cdc_224095_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.20 MB ]