THE SHORT-TERM EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION ON MORTALITY AND HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS IN BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA

Abstract

This poster details the results of a study funded in late 1999 by the SPIRT scheme which examined the short-term health effects of air pollution in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, for the period 1996-1999. 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. The poster details the results for the Brisbane region for the acute health impacts of a range of pollutants-fine particles (as measured by nephelometery), PM10, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide-on daily mortality (total, cardiovascular, respiratory), daily cardiovascular hospital admissions, and daily respiratory hospital admissions. Fine particles (as measured by nephelometery) and PM10 have a statistically significant impact on total mortality (all ages), and total cardiovascular mortality (all ages), as well as on total respiratory admissions for the elderly (>65 years). Carbon monoxide and PM10 have a statistically significant impact on IHD admissions (>65 years). Carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and PM10 have a statistically significant impact on cardiac admissions (>65 years). Fine particles and ozone have a statistically significant impact on respiratory admissions in the elderly (especially COPD, asthma, pneumonia and acute bronchitis). The statistical methods used is generalised additive models (GAM) using the S Plus statistical package and loess smoothing. The results for all methods are presented and for lag periods of 0-3 days for all pollutants.