Open AccessAir pollution in the Latrobe Valley and its impact upon respiratory morbidity
Author(s) -
Voigt T.,
Bailey M.,
Abramson M.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.946
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1753-6405
pISSN - 1326-0200
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-842x.1998.tb01438.x
Subject(s) - nitrogen dioxide , asthma , air pollution , ozone , respiratory system , environmental health , air pollutants , particulates , medicine , air quality index , pollutant , sulfur dioxide , pollution , environmental science , meteorology , geography , biology , ecology
Objective: To assess the relationship between air pollution and respiratory morbidity. Design: An ecological study of the daily hospital admissions abstracted for the 1988 calendar year. Air quality data, including nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ), ozone (0 3 ) and particulates, were obtained from the relevant authorities. Setting: Latrobe Valley, Victoria. Subjects: Hospital admissions for asthma and Chronic Obstructive Airways Disease. (COAD). Results: There were significant associations (r=O.11 to 0.17) between airborne particles, nitrogen dioxide and respiratory morbidity. There was no significant relationship between any of the pollutants and asthma admissions. However, multi‐variate analysis confirmed that NO, and particulates were associated with admissions for COAD. Conclusion: Respiratory morbidity appears to be affected even by the low air pollution levels in the Latrobe Valley.