The Effects of the Air Pollution On the Frequency of Visits Of Hypertensive Patients at the Emergency Unit in the City of Sao Paulo

Abstract

P-009 Objective: the objective of this work was to analyze the association between the number of emergency medical services by hypertensive disease at an emergency unit and the concentrations of atmospheric pollutants in the city of São Paulo. Material and Methods: The studied group was of hypertensive patients (ICD 10), which in the period between February 2001 and December 2003 sought services at the emergency unit of the São Paulo hospital with hypertensive complications (elevation of blood pressure and its complications). All the analyzed patients were São Paulo residents. The atmospheric pollution data were collected from CETESB (Environmental Sanitation and Technology Co.) on a daily basis for every period of the study. Results: The data analyzed showed that the elevation on the atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) are related to a greater number of services provided to patients who suffer form hypertension at the emergency unit of São Paulo hospital. The greatest effect on the elevation of the blood pressure was given at different moments after exposure for each pollutant previously mentioned. Thus for SO2 it has been observed an important impact until five days after the greatest atmospheric concentration. As for CO and the NO2 the same procedure occurred with seven and two days respectively. Conclusion: it has been concluded that there is an important relationship between a greater concentration of atmospheric pollutants and a greater number of emergency medical services of hypertensive patients at intensive care units.