THE SHORT-TERM EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION ON CARDIOVASCULAR ADMISSIONS

Abstract

This poster complements the paper in this area (A description of the SPIRT study for Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney: Simpson et al) and details all the results referred in summary in the paper on the short-term health effects of air pollution on cardiovascular admissions in four Australian cities-Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. The study used a protocol similar to that used in Europe (Air Pollution and Health: A European Approach-APHEA) to examine the associations between health outcomes, such as daily mortality and daily hospital admissions counts, and air pollutants. This poster details all the results for the period 1996-1999 of a meta-analysis for the four cities for the acute health impacts of the pollutants-fine particles, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone. The meta-analyses often show statistically significant differences between the cities indicating the results can be quite different in different cities. Fine particles (as measured by nephelometery) and nitrogen dioxide both have a significant impact on cardiac admissions (14-65 years, greater than 65 years) and IHD admissions (all ages, > 65 years), while ozone has a significant impact on cardiac admissions (14-65 years, greater than 65 years). The sensitivity of the results to different statistical methods used in the meta-analyses have been carried out using a combination of three approaches: generalised additive models (GAM) using the S Plus statistical package and loess smoothing, generalised additive models using the S Plus package and natural splines, and penalised splines using the R statistical package.