TY - JOUR
T1 - Coarse particulate matter and emergency ambulance dispatches in Fukuoka, Japan
T2 - a time-stratified case-crossover study
AU - Michikawa, Takehiro
AU - Ueda, Kayo
AU - Takeuchi, Ayano
AU - Tamura, Kenji
AU - Kinoshita, Makoto
AU - Ichinose, Takamichi
AU - Nitta, Hiroshi
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments We appreciate the help Mr. Hiromi Hayashi (Environmental Bureau of Fukuoka City, Fukuoka, Japan) gave us in acquiring data. We would also like to thank Ms. Noriko Shidai (National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan) for her assistance with our work. This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (25241015).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014, The Japanese Society for Hygiene.
PY - 2015/3/3
Y1 - 2015/3/3
N2 - Objectives: There is no conclusive evidence of adverse health effects caused by short-term exposure to coarse particulate matter, so in this case-crossover study we looked for an association between exposure and emergency ambulance dispatches (as a proxy of acute health outcomes).Methods: We used data on emergency ambulance dispatches in Fukuoka City, Japan between 2005 and 2010. After excluding ambulance dispatches related to external injuries and pregnancy/childbirth, we analyzed data on 176,123 dispatches. Citywide daily mean concentrations of suspended particulate matter (SPM) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) were calculated from ambient monitoring data, and the differences between concentrations of SPM and PM2.5 were used as an exposure surrogate of coarse particulate matter. Using a conditional logistic regression model, we estimated the ambient temperature and relative humidity adjusted odds ratios (ORs) per 10 μg/m3 increase in coarse particulate matter.Results: The average daily concentration of coarse particulate matter over the study period was 9.9 μg/m3, representing 33 % of the total concentration of SPM. Elevated concentrations of coarse particulate matter were associated with an increase in respiratory disease-related emergency ambulance dispatches for adults aged 65 years or older (9,716 dispatches, OR for lag0–1 = 1.065, 95 % confidence interval = 1.023–1.109). After additional adjustment for exposure to PM2.5, we observed a statistically non-significant increased risk (OR = 1.035, 0.986–1.086).Conclusions: We found weak evidence of adverse effects of short-term exposure to coarse particulate matter on human health.
AB - Objectives: There is no conclusive evidence of adverse health effects caused by short-term exposure to coarse particulate matter, so in this case-crossover study we looked for an association between exposure and emergency ambulance dispatches (as a proxy of acute health outcomes).Methods: We used data on emergency ambulance dispatches in Fukuoka City, Japan between 2005 and 2010. After excluding ambulance dispatches related to external injuries and pregnancy/childbirth, we analyzed data on 176,123 dispatches. Citywide daily mean concentrations of suspended particulate matter (SPM) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) were calculated from ambient monitoring data, and the differences between concentrations of SPM and PM2.5 were used as an exposure surrogate of coarse particulate matter. Using a conditional logistic regression model, we estimated the ambient temperature and relative humidity adjusted odds ratios (ORs) per 10 μg/m3 increase in coarse particulate matter.Results: The average daily concentration of coarse particulate matter over the study period was 9.9 μg/m3, representing 33 % of the total concentration of SPM. Elevated concentrations of coarse particulate matter were associated with an increase in respiratory disease-related emergency ambulance dispatches for adults aged 65 years or older (9,716 dispatches, OR for lag0–1 = 1.065, 95 % confidence interval = 1.023–1.109). After additional adjustment for exposure to PM2.5, we observed a statistically non-significant increased risk (OR = 1.035, 0.986–1.086).Conclusions: We found weak evidence of adverse effects of short-term exposure to coarse particulate matter on human health.
KW - Case-crossover design
KW - Coarse particle
KW - Emergency ambulance dispatches
KW - Particulate matter
KW - Short-term exposure
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U2 - 10.1007/s12199-014-0439-x
DO - 10.1007/s12199-014-0439-x
M3 - Article
C2 - 25533085
AN - SCOPUS:84925487031
SN - 1342-078X
VL - 20
SP - 130
EP - 136
JO - Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine
JF - Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine
IS - 2
ER -
