Acute effects of ambient particulate matter on daily emergency and outpatient visits for respiratory diseases among children aged 0-5 years in Beijing, China

Abstract

PDS 68: Outdoor air pollution, mortality and morbidity, Exhibition Hall (PDS), Ground floor, August 26, 2019, 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM Background: Ambient particulate matter (PM) has been associated with respiratory diseases; however, few studies exist examining the impacts of PM on children who are particularly susceptible. Methods: Electronic records of daily emergency and outpatient visits for respiratory diseases among children aged 0-5 years from 1 January to 31 December in 2016 were collected from Beijing Children`s Hospital in Beijing, China. Daily concentrations of PM with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and ≤ 10 μm (PM10), and meteorology data at the same period were collected from Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center and a fixed monitoring site at Tsinghua University, respectively. Generalized Additive Models with a Poisson regression was used to estimate the associations between ambient PM and emergency and outpatient visits for respiratory diseases. Analyses were further performed for infants (<1 year) and children aged 1-5 years. Results: A total of 224,584 cases of respiratory diseases (35,930 infants and 188,654 children aged 1-5 years) were recorded. The daily mean levels of PM2.5 and PM10 were 71.14 μg/m3 and 103.01 μg/m3. We observed increases in emergency and outpatient visits of 0.18% (95% Confidence Interval (CI): -0.06%, 0.42%) and 0.28% (95%CI: 0.06%, 0.50%), in associations with a 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 and PM10 at prior 1 day (lag1), respectively. Statistically significant cumulative effects of PM2.5 and PM10 (P<0.05) were observed among infants, with the largest effect estimates at lag03 (0.54%, 95%CI: 0.13%, 0.95%) and lag01 (0.42%, 95%CI: 0.16%, 0.68%), respectively, whereas no significant effects were observed among children aged 1-5 years. Conclusions: Our findings show the significant acute effects on daily emergency and outpatient visits for respiratory diseases of ambient PM among children and suggest the need for implementation of rigorous air quality policies to protect children’s health.