Open AccessASTHMA HOSPITALISATION IN RELATION TO SULPHUR DIOXIDE ATMOSPHERIC CONTAMINATION IN THE KWINANA INDUSTRIAL AREA OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Author(s) -
Hunt T. B.,
Holman C. D. J.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
community health studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.946
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1753-6405
pISSN - 0314-9021
DOI - 10.1111/j.1753-6405.1987.tb00006.x
Subject(s) - asthma , residence , medicine , atmospheric pollution , industrial area , air pollution , environmental health , sulfur dioxide , pollution , demography , toxicology , environmental science , environmental protection , chemistry , inorganic chemistry , ecology , organic chemistry , sociology , biology
A case‐control study was conducted to examine the relationship between hospital admissions for asthma attacks in 1979–1984 and airborne sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ) pollution in an industrial and residential area on the outskirts of Penn, Western Australia. There were 255 cases and 903 controls, each assigned levels of SO 2 exposure based on their place of residence and, for subjects of school age, their place of schooling. Compared with residents exposed to a mean SO 2 level of less than 8 ug/m 3 , the estimated rate ratios were 1.1 (95% CI 0.8‐1.5) in those exposed to 8–14 ug/m 3 , 0.8 (0.5‐1.3) for exposures of 15.21 ug/m 3 and 0.9 (0.5‐1.9) in the highest exposed group with 22–46 ug/m 3 . Analysis of the frequency of peak levels in SO 2 pollution yielded similar results. The study showed no evidence of an increased rate of hospital admission for asthma in residents exposed to higher levels of SO 2 compared with other persons in the district.