Pub Date : 2024-02-08DOI: 10.1088/2752-5309/ad2780
Yichen Wang, S. Achilleos, Pascale Salameh, Panayiotis Kouis, P. Yiallouros, Elena Critselis, Kleanthis Nicolaides, F. Tymvios, C. Savvides, E. Vasiliadou, Stefania Papatheodorou, P. Koutrakis, B. Alahmad
Background: Exposure to extreme temperatures can trigger a cascade of adverse cardiovascular and respiratory events. However, in Cyprus, a hotspot of climate change in the Eastern Mediterranean region, little is known about the temperature-related cardiorespiratory morbidity risks. Methods: We analyzed daily counts of hospital admissions for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases from four general hospitals in three districts in Cyprus from 2000 through 2019. For each district, we fitted time-series quasi-Poisson regression with distributed lag non-linear models to analyze the associations between daily mean temperature (lag 0-21 days) and hospital admissions for cardiorespiratory, cardiovascular, and respiratory diseases. A random-effects meta-analytical model was then applied to pool the district-specific estimates and obtain the national average associations. Results: We analyzed 20 years of cause-specific hospitalization data with a total of 179,988 cardiovascular and respiratory events. The relationships between cardiorespiratory morbidity and temperature were overall U-shaped. During extreme temperature days, 15.85% (95% empirical CI [eCI]: 8.24, 22.40%) excess cardiovascular hospitalizations and 9.59% (95% eCI: -0.66, 18.69%) excess respiratory hospitalizations were attributable to extreme cold days (below the 2.5th percentile). Extreme hot days (above the 97.5th percentile) accounted for 0.17% (95% eCI: 0.03, 0.29%) excess cardiovascular hospitalizations and 0.23% (95% eCI: 0.07, 0.35%) excess respiratory hospitalizations. Conclusions: We found evidence of increased cardiovascular morbidity risk associated with extreme temperatures in Cyprus. Our study highlights the necessity to implement public health interventions and adaptive measures to mitigate the related temperature effects in an understudied region.
{"title":"Temperature and hospital admissions in the Eastern Mediterranean: a case study in Cyprus","authors":"Yichen Wang, S. Achilleos, Pascale Salameh, Panayiotis Kouis, P. Yiallouros, Elena Critselis, Kleanthis Nicolaides, F. Tymvios, C. Savvides, E. Vasiliadou, Stefania Papatheodorou, P. Koutrakis, B. Alahmad","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/ad2780","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/ad2780","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Background: Exposure to extreme temperatures can trigger a cascade of adverse cardiovascular and respiratory events. However, in Cyprus, a hotspot of climate change in the Eastern Mediterranean region, little is known about the temperature-related cardiorespiratory morbidity risks. Methods: We analyzed daily counts of hospital admissions for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases from four general hospitals in three districts in Cyprus from 2000 through 2019. For each district, we fitted time-series quasi-Poisson regression with distributed lag non-linear models to analyze the associations between daily mean temperature (lag 0-21 days) and hospital admissions for cardiorespiratory, cardiovascular, and respiratory diseases. A random-effects meta-analytical model was then applied to pool the district-specific estimates and obtain the national average associations. Results: We analyzed 20 years of cause-specific hospitalization data with a total of 179,988 cardiovascular and respiratory events. The relationships between cardiorespiratory morbidity and temperature were overall U-shaped. During extreme temperature days, 15.85% (95% empirical CI [eCI]: 8.24, 22.40%) excess cardiovascular hospitalizations and 9.59% (95% eCI: -0.66, 18.69%) excess respiratory hospitalizations were attributable to extreme cold days (below the 2.5th percentile). Extreme hot days (above the 97.5th percentile) accounted for 0.17% (95% eCI: 0.03, 0.29%) excess cardiovascular hospitalizations and 0.23% (95% eCI: 0.07, 0.35%) excess respiratory hospitalizations. Conclusions: We found evidence of increased cardiovascular morbidity risk associated with extreme temperatures in Cyprus. Our study highlights the necessity to implement public health interventions and adaptive measures to mitigate the related temperature effects in an understudied region.","PeriodicalId":517104,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Health","volume":"66 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139895578","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-06DOI: 10.1088/2752-5309/ad268a
Gilda Zarate-Gonzalez, Ricardo Cisneros, H. Gharibi, Paul Brown
Introduction: The San Joaquin Valley (SJV) of California has been consistently identified as having one of the highest levels of air pollution in the US. Despite federal and state standards, the SJV has been in non-attainment status for daily PM2.5 concentrations, extreme non-attainment for 8-hour O3 levels, and attainment for NO2. Methods: An epidemiological time-stratified case-crossover design was used to estimate the relationship between exposure to NO2, O3, PM2.5 and adverse health outcomes in asthma and upper respiratory infections (URIs). This study compared pollutant exposure effects for each case during limited time intervals and adjusted for seasonality. Results: Elevated concentrations of three criteria outdoor air pollutants are associated with increased asthma and URI-related ED visits and hospitalizations in the SJV for all ages. NO2 exposure increased the odds of having an ED visit by 2.4% in lag 1 (95% CI: 1.017, 1.031). Lags 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, and 14 were statistically significant. O3 modestly increased the odds of ED visits by 0.3% (95% CI:1.000, 1.006) after immediate exposure in the warm season. In the cold season, PM2.5 estimates were significant for all lags except for lags 4 and 12. The two-week lag increased the odds by 28% (95% CI:1.218, 1.345) for ED visits, and 16.5% (95% CI:1.009, 1.345) increased the odds of being hospitalized after cumulative exposure to PM2.5. Discussion: Findings suggest that SJV residents experience adverse health effects due to elevated exposure to NO2 despite attainment of federal pollutant standards. Conclusion: This study provides new evidence about the effects of three criteria air pollutants and adverse health outcomes in the SJV region. The air quality regulatory and public health governing bodies should consider revisions to regional pollutant thresholds and local public health strategies to prevent adverse health outcomes during short and prolonged periods of air pollution exposure.
{"title":"Air pollution related adverse respiratory health outcomes in California’s San Joaquin Valley: evidence from 2016 linked emergency department and hospital Records","authors":"Gilda Zarate-Gonzalez, Ricardo Cisneros, H. Gharibi, Paul Brown","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/ad268a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/ad268a","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Introduction: The San Joaquin Valley (SJV) of California has been consistently identified as having one of the highest levels of air pollution in the US. Despite federal and state standards, the SJV has been in non-attainment status for daily PM2.5 concentrations, extreme non-attainment for 8-hour O3 levels, and attainment for NO2. Methods: An epidemiological time-stratified case-crossover design was used to estimate the relationship between exposure to NO2, O3, PM2.5 and adverse health outcomes in asthma and upper respiratory infections (URIs). This study compared pollutant exposure effects for each case during limited time intervals and adjusted for seasonality. Results: Elevated concentrations of three criteria outdoor air pollutants are associated with increased asthma and URI-related ED visits and hospitalizations in the SJV for all ages. NO2 exposure increased the odds of having an ED visit by 2.4% in lag 1 (95% CI: 1.017, 1.031). Lags 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, and 14 were statistically significant. O3 modestly increased the odds of ED visits by 0.3% (95% CI:1.000, 1.006) after immediate exposure in the warm season. In the cold season, PM2.5 estimates were significant for all lags except for lags 4 and 12. The two-week lag increased the odds by 28% (95% CI:1.218, 1.345) for ED visits, and 16.5% (95% CI:1.009, 1.345) increased the odds of being hospitalized after cumulative exposure to PM2.5. Discussion: Findings suggest that SJV residents experience adverse health effects due to elevated exposure to NO2 despite attainment of federal pollutant standards. Conclusion: This study provides new evidence about the effects of three criteria air pollutants and adverse health outcomes in the SJV region. The air quality regulatory and public health governing bodies should consider revisions to regional pollutant thresholds and local public health strategies to prevent adverse health outcomes during short and prolonged periods of air pollution exposure.","PeriodicalId":517104,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Health","volume":"284 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139895763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-02DOI: 10.1088/2752-5309/ad1fd6
M. J. Lee, James M. Dickson, Ophir Greif, William Ho, Sarah B Henderson, Gary Mallach, Eric S Coker
The health risks associated with wildfires are expected to increase due to climate change. Children are susceptible to wildfire smoke, but little is known about indoor smoke exposure at childcare facilities. The objective of this analysis was to estimate the effects of outdoor PM2.5 and wildfire smoke episodes on indoor PM2.5 at childcare facilities across British Columbia, Canada. We installed low-cost air-quality sensors inside and outside 45 childcare facilities and focused our analysis on operational hours (Monday–Friday, 08:00–18:00) during the 2022 wildfire season (01 August–31 October). Using random-slope random-intercept linear mixed effects regression, we estimated the overall and facility-specific effects of outdoor PM2.5 on indoor PM2.5, while accounting for covariates. We examined how wildfire smoke affected this relationship by separately analyzing days with and without wildfire smoke. Average indoor PM2.5 increased by 235% on wildfire days across facilities. There was a positive relationship between outdoor and indoor PM2.5 that was not strongly influenced by linear adjustment for meteorological and area-based socio-economic factors. A 1.0 μg m−3 increase in outdoor PM2.5 was associated with a 0.55 μg m−3 [95% CI: 0.47, 0.63] increase indoors on non-wildfire smoke days and 0.51 μg m−3 [95% CI: 0.44, 0.58] on wildfire-smoke days. Facility-specific regression coefficients of the effect of outdoor PM2.5 on indoor PM2.5 was variable between facilities on wildfire (0.18–0.79 μg m−3) and non-wildfire days (0.11–1.03 μg m−3). Indoor PM2.5 responded almost immediately to increased outdoor PM2.5 concentrations. Across facilities, 89% and 93% of the total PM2.5 infiltration over 60 min occurred within the first 10 min following an increase in outdoor PM2.5 on non-wildfire and wildfire days, respectively. We found that indoor PM2.5 in childcare facilities increased with outdoor PM2.5. This effect varied between facilities and between wildfire-smoke and non-wildfire smoke days. These findings highlight the importance of air quality monitoring at childcare facilities for informed decision-making.
{"title":"Using low-cost air quality sensors to estimate wildfire smoke infiltration into childcare facilities in British Columbia, Canada","authors":"M. J. Lee, James M. Dickson, Ophir Greif, William Ho, Sarah B Henderson, Gary Mallach, Eric S Coker","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/ad1fd6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/ad1fd6","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The health risks associated with wildfires are expected to increase due to climate change. Children are susceptible to wildfire smoke, but little is known about indoor smoke exposure at childcare facilities. The objective of this analysis was to estimate the effects of outdoor PM2.5 and wildfire smoke episodes on indoor PM2.5 at childcare facilities across British Columbia, Canada. We installed low-cost air-quality sensors inside and outside 45 childcare facilities and focused our analysis on operational hours (Monday–Friday, 08:00–18:00) during the 2022 wildfire season (01 August–31 October). Using random-slope random-intercept linear mixed effects regression, we estimated the overall and facility-specific effects of outdoor PM2.5 on indoor PM2.5, while accounting for covariates. We examined how wildfire smoke affected this relationship by separately analyzing days with and without wildfire smoke. Average indoor PM2.5 increased by 235% on wildfire days across facilities. There was a positive relationship between outdoor and indoor PM2.5 that was not strongly influenced by linear adjustment for meteorological and area-based socio-economic factors. A 1.0 μg m−3 increase in outdoor PM2.5 was associated with a 0.55 μg m−3 [95% CI: 0.47, 0.63] increase indoors on non-wildfire smoke days and 0.51 μg m−3 [95% CI: 0.44, 0.58] on wildfire-smoke days. Facility-specific regression coefficients of the effect of outdoor PM2.5 on indoor PM2.5 was variable between facilities on wildfire (0.18–0.79 μg m−3) and non-wildfire days (0.11–1.03 μg m−3). Indoor PM2.5 responded almost immediately to increased outdoor PM2.5 concentrations. Across facilities, 89% and 93% of the total PM2.5 infiltration over 60 min occurred within the first 10 min following an increase in outdoor PM2.5 on non-wildfire and wildfire days, respectively. We found that indoor PM2.5 in childcare facilities increased with outdoor PM2.5. This effect varied between facilities and between wildfire-smoke and non-wildfire smoke days. These findings highlight the importance of air quality monitoring at childcare facilities for informed decision-making.","PeriodicalId":517104,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Health","volume":"92 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139896372","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-02DOI: 10.1088/2752-5309/ad1fd6
M. J. Lee, James M. Dickson, Ophir Greif, William Ho, Sarah B Henderson, Gary Mallach, Eric S Coker
The health risks associated with wildfires are expected to increase due to climate change. Children are susceptible to wildfire smoke, but little is known about indoor smoke exposure at childcare facilities. The objective of this analysis was to estimate the effects of outdoor PM2.5 and wildfire smoke episodes on indoor PM2.5 at childcare facilities across British Columbia, Canada. We installed low-cost air-quality sensors inside and outside 45 childcare facilities and focused our analysis on operational hours (Monday–Friday, 08:00–18:00) during the 2022 wildfire season (01 August–31 October). Using random-slope random-intercept linear mixed effects regression, we estimated the overall and facility-specific effects of outdoor PM2.5 on indoor PM2.5, while accounting for covariates. We examined how wildfire smoke affected this relationship by separately analyzing days with and without wildfire smoke. Average indoor PM2.5 increased by 235% on wildfire days across facilities. There was a positive relationship between outdoor and indoor PM2.5 that was not strongly influenced by linear adjustment for meteorological and area-based socio-economic factors. A 1.0 μg m−3 increase in outdoor PM2.5 was associated with a 0.55 μg m−3 [95% CI: 0.47, 0.63] increase indoors on non-wildfire smoke days and 0.51 μg m−3 [95% CI: 0.44, 0.58] on wildfire-smoke days. Facility-specific regression coefficients of the effect of outdoor PM2.5 on indoor PM2.5 was variable between facilities on wildfire (0.18–0.79 μg m−3) and non-wildfire days (0.11–1.03 μg m−3). Indoor PM2.5 responded almost immediately to increased outdoor PM2.5 concentrations. Across facilities, 89% and 93% of the total PM2.5 infiltration over 60 min occurred within the first 10 min following an increase in outdoor PM2.5 on non-wildfire and wildfire days, respectively. We found that indoor PM2.5 in childcare facilities increased with outdoor PM2.5. This effect varied between facilities and between wildfire-smoke and non-wildfire smoke days. These findings highlight the importance of air quality monitoring at childcare facilities for informed decision-making.
{"title":"Using low-cost air quality sensors to estimate wildfire smoke infiltration into childcare facilities in British Columbia, Canada","authors":"M. J. Lee, James M. Dickson, Ophir Greif, William Ho, Sarah B Henderson, Gary Mallach, Eric S Coker","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/ad1fd6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/ad1fd6","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The health risks associated with wildfires are expected to increase due to climate change. Children are susceptible to wildfire smoke, but little is known about indoor smoke exposure at childcare facilities. The objective of this analysis was to estimate the effects of outdoor PM2.5 and wildfire smoke episodes on indoor PM2.5 at childcare facilities across British Columbia, Canada. We installed low-cost air-quality sensors inside and outside 45 childcare facilities and focused our analysis on operational hours (Monday–Friday, 08:00–18:00) during the 2022 wildfire season (01 August–31 October). Using random-slope random-intercept linear mixed effects regression, we estimated the overall and facility-specific effects of outdoor PM2.5 on indoor PM2.5, while accounting for covariates. We examined how wildfire smoke affected this relationship by separately analyzing days with and without wildfire smoke. Average indoor PM2.5 increased by 235% on wildfire days across facilities. There was a positive relationship between outdoor and indoor PM2.5 that was not strongly influenced by linear adjustment for meteorological and area-based socio-economic factors. A 1.0 μg m−3 increase in outdoor PM2.5 was associated with a 0.55 μg m−3 [95% CI: 0.47, 0.63] increase indoors on non-wildfire smoke days and 0.51 μg m−3 [95% CI: 0.44, 0.58] on wildfire-smoke days. Facility-specific regression coefficients of the effect of outdoor PM2.5 on indoor PM2.5 was variable between facilities on wildfire (0.18–0.79 μg m−3) and non-wildfire days (0.11–1.03 μg m−3). Indoor PM2.5 responded almost immediately to increased outdoor PM2.5 concentrations. Across facilities, 89% and 93% of the total PM2.5 infiltration over 60 min occurred within the first 10 min following an increase in outdoor PM2.5 on non-wildfire and wildfire days, respectively. We found that indoor PM2.5 in childcare facilities increased with outdoor PM2.5. This effect varied between facilities and between wildfire-smoke and non-wildfire smoke days. These findings highlight the importance of air quality monitoring at childcare facilities for informed decision-making.","PeriodicalId":517104,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Health","volume":"90 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139893433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-26DOI: 10.1088/2752-5309/ad22ea
Su Golder, Hilary Graham
Social media are increasingly used by the public to share information and opinions. This study explores social media engagement in health and climate change through an analysis of English-language posts on Twitter, one of the most widely-used platforms. We searched Twitter from 3rd April 2023 to 11th May 2023 for posts related to climate change using climate-related textwords and hashtags; we then used health keywords (‘health’, ‘wellbeing’, ‘illness’, ‘illnesses’, ‘disease’, ‘death’) to identify posts related to health. Focusing on posts from general public users, we investigated the proportion of climate change posts referring to health and, for a random sample of these tweets, undertook a content analysis to identify the ways in which climate change and health were represented. The content analysis drew on media research on ‘framing’, a selective process through which particular aspects of an issue – for example, its causes, impacts and solutions – are highlighted. 668,810 posts related to climate change were posted during the study period. Health-related textwords were included in 2.3% (15,434) of these posts. The content analysis pointed to two divergent frames. The first frame represents climate change as real, with real effects on people’s health. The second frame portrays climate change as a hoax, with hoax-generated health effects. While the ‘reality’ frame does not engage with the hoax frame, the latter provides an insistent counter-narrative that questions trust in mainstream science and government policy. Neither frame engages with people’s experiences of health and climate change. In conclusion, our study points to low levels of engagement in health in a key forum for public discussions about climate change. It also asks whether the failure of the ‘reality’ frame to engage either with people’s lived experiences or with hoax framings may be contributing to a polarised debate about climate change and health and hindering consensus-building.
{"title":"Social media engagement in health and climate change: an exploratory analysis of Twitter","authors":"Su Golder, Hilary Graham","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/ad22ea","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/ad22ea","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Social media are increasingly used by the public to share information and opinions. This study explores social media engagement in health and climate change through an analysis of English-language posts on Twitter, one of the most widely-used platforms. We searched Twitter from 3rd April 2023 to 11th May 2023 for posts related to climate change using climate-related textwords and hashtags; we then used health keywords (‘health’, ‘wellbeing’, ‘illness’, ‘illnesses’, ‘disease’, ‘death’) to identify posts related to health. Focusing on posts from general public users, we investigated the proportion of climate change posts referring to health and, for a random sample of these tweets, undertook a content analysis to identify the ways in which climate change and health were represented. The content analysis drew on media research on ‘framing’, a selective process through which particular aspects of an issue – for example, its causes, impacts and solutions – are highlighted. 668,810 posts related to climate change were posted during the study period. Health-related textwords were included in 2.3% (15,434) of these posts. The content analysis pointed to two divergent frames. The first frame represents climate change as real, with real effects on people’s health. The second frame portrays climate change as a hoax, with hoax-generated health effects. While the ‘reality’ frame does not engage with the hoax frame, the latter provides an insistent counter-narrative that questions trust in mainstream science and government policy. Neither frame engages with people’s experiences of health and climate change. In conclusion, our study points to low levels of engagement in health in a key forum for public discussions about climate change. It also asks whether the failure of the ‘reality’ frame to engage either with people’s lived experiences or with hoax framings may be contributing to a polarised debate about climate change and health and hindering consensus-building.","PeriodicalId":517104,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Health","volume":"123 12","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140493833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-16DOI: 10.1088/2752-5309/ad1f3f
Eun-Hye Yoo, John E Roberts, Kai Chen
Background: Emerging evidence suggests that exposure to ambient air pol- lution negatively impacts mental health. However, little is known about potential moderators of such effects, including pre-existing physical disor- ders and personal characteristics. This study investigated if the effects of daily changes in levels of air pollutants among individuals with mental dis- orders (MDs) vary depending on comorbid physical disorders, age, sex, or race/ethnicity. Methods: We used a time-stratified case-crossover design that compared the levels of PM2.5 and NO2 on days leading up to MD-related emergency room (ER) visits to levels on control days. The sample consisted of individuals with MDs for their primary diagnosis, including both patients with second diagnosis and those without. We conducted a stratified analysis to examine the potential effect modification by individuals’ demographic characteristics (sex, age, and race/ethnicity) or a diagnosis of a physical disorder (cardio- vascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and respiratory disease). Results: We found that both PM2.5 and NO2 were significantly associated with ER visits for MDs. Per 10 μg m−3 increase in daily PM2.5 and per 10 ppb increase in NO2 concentration were associated with 1.07% (95% CI: 0.81%, 1.34%) and 0.56% (95% CI: 0.42%, 0.69%) increase in ER visits for MDs, respectively. We also found significantly greater susceptibility among younger persons (below 18 years old), Black, and individuals with respiratory disease. Conclusions: Exposures to both PM2.5 and NO2 were significantly associated with ER visits for MDs, and these adverse effects were more pronounced among youth, Black and individuals with respiratory disease as a comorbid physical disorder.
{"title":"Effects of air pollution on emergency room visits for mental disorders: risks and effect modification by comorbid physical disorders and personal characteristics","authors":"Eun-Hye Yoo, John E Roberts, Kai Chen","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/ad1f3f","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/ad1f3f","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Background: Emerging evidence suggests that exposure to ambient air pol- lution negatively impacts mental health. However, little is known about potential moderators of such effects, including pre-existing physical disor- ders and personal characteristics. This study investigated if the effects of daily changes in levels of air pollutants among individuals with mental dis- orders (MDs) vary depending on comorbid physical disorders, age, sex, or race/ethnicity. Methods: We used a time-stratified case-crossover design that compared the levels of PM2.5 and NO2 on days leading up to MD-related emergency room (ER) visits to levels on control days. The sample consisted of individuals with MDs for their primary diagnosis, including both patients with second diagnosis and those without. We conducted a stratified analysis to examine the potential effect modification by individuals’ demographic characteristics (sex, age, and race/ethnicity) or a diagnosis of a physical disorder (cardio- vascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and respiratory disease). Results: We found that both PM2.5 and NO2 were significantly associated with ER visits for MDs. Per 10 μg m−3 increase in daily PM2.5 and per 10 ppb increase in NO2 concentration were associated with 1.07% (95% CI: 0.81%, 1.34%) and 0.56% (95% CI: 0.42%, 0.69%) increase in ER visits for MDs, respectively. We also found significantly greater susceptibility among younger persons (below 18 years old), Black, and individuals with respiratory disease. Conclusions: Exposures to both PM2.5 and NO2 were significantly associated with ER visits for MDs, and these adverse effects were more pronounced among youth, Black and individuals with respiratory disease as a comorbid physical disorder.","PeriodicalId":517104,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Health","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140506505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-08DOI: 10.1088/2752-5309/ad1c42
Jinah Park, Jeongmin Moon, Dohoon Kwon, John S. Ji, Ho Kim, Yoonhee Kim
Suicide, a leading cause of death among the youth, has shown a positive association with high temperatures. However, few studies have explored the association between tropical nights and suicide and the potential role of greenness on this association. We investigated the association between suicide and two hot night indices: hot night duration (HNd) and hot night excess (HNe), representing heat duration and excess heat during night-time. We also explored whether the association was modified by urban greenspace, measured by satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), across 25 districts in Seoul, South Korea from 2000 to 2020. Based on the multi-district daily time-series data, we performed a space-time-stratified case-crossover analysis with a distributed lag linear model with lags of up to 7 days for HNd and HNe, adjusting for daily mean temperature and relative humidity. We added an interaction term between the hot night index and NDVI to assess the effect modification of greenness. In total, 14693 suicides were included in this study. The relative risk (RR) of suicide per a 10% increase in HNd was 1.059 (95% CI: 1.017–1.103) in low NDVI areas and 1.031 (95% CI: 0.988–1.075) in high NDVI areas. The RR per a 1ºC increase in HNe was 1.011 (95% CI: 0.998–1.024) and 1.005 (95% CI: 0.992–1.018) in low and high NDVI areas, respectively. Greenspaces have expanded over time in all districts of Seoul, and the risk of suicide for night-time heat decreased over time in both low and high NDVI areas. Our findings suggest that exposure to night-time heat is associated with an increased risk of suicide, but this risk may be mitigated by greater greenspaces in urban areas. Prioritizing development and maintenance of urban greenspaces will be a critical co-benefit strategy for promoting public mental health in changing climates.
{"title":"A protective role of urban greenspace on the association between night-time heat and suicide in Seoul, South Korea","authors":"Jinah Park, Jeongmin Moon, Dohoon Kwon, John S. Ji, Ho Kim, Yoonhee Kim","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/ad1c42","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/ad1c42","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Suicide, a leading cause of death among the youth, has shown a positive association with high temperatures. However, few studies have explored the association between tropical nights and suicide and the potential role of greenness on this association. We investigated the association between suicide and two hot night indices: hot night duration (HNd) and hot night excess (HNe), representing heat duration and excess heat during night-time. We also explored whether the association was modified by urban greenspace, measured by satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), across 25 districts in Seoul, South Korea from 2000 to 2020. Based on the multi-district daily time-series data, we performed a space-time-stratified case-crossover analysis with a distributed lag linear model with lags of up to 7 days for HNd and HNe, adjusting for daily mean temperature and relative humidity. We added an interaction term between the hot night index and NDVI to assess the effect modification of greenness. In total, 14693 suicides were included in this study. The relative risk (RR) of suicide per a 10% increase in HNd was 1.059 (95% CI: 1.017–1.103) in low NDVI areas and 1.031 (95% CI: 0.988–1.075) in high NDVI areas. The RR per a 1ºC increase in HNe was 1.011 (95% CI: 0.998–1.024) and 1.005 (95% CI: 0.992–1.018) in low and high NDVI areas, respectively. Greenspaces have expanded over time in all districts of Seoul, and the risk of suicide for night-time heat decreased over time in both low and high NDVI areas. Our findings suggest that exposure to night-time heat is associated with an increased risk of suicide, but this risk may be mitigated by greater greenspaces in urban areas. Prioritizing development and maintenance of urban greenspaces will be a critical co-benefit strategy for promoting public mental health in changing climates.","PeriodicalId":517104,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Health","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140512590","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-08DOI: 10.1088/2752-5309/ad1c41
M. Gangwar, Yusuf Jamal, M. Usmani, Chang-Yu Wu, A. Jutla
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in schools has received attention over the past decades but still lacks specific standards and regulations. This study aimed to review the impact of bioaerosol activity in indoor environments on acute respiratory diseases and explore whether carbon dioxide can be used as an indicator of bioaerosol and respiratory diseases in indoor environments in K-12 school systems. Findings suggest a lack of a consensual approach to evaluate bioaerosols impacting IAQ in indoor infrastructures, particularly in school environments; an elevated CO2 concentration inside the school classrooms was not uncommon, and the evidence of unsatisfactory and degraded IAQ (surpassing ASHRAE standards) at public schools in rural and urban settings in one of the North Central County, Florida. It was found that CO2 levels can be associated with bioaerosol activity, and sufficient ventilation within the space substantially reduces the airborne time of respiratory droplets and CO2 levels. CO2 monitoring can act as an effective, low-cost alternative to surveying or detecting the prevalence of respiratory diseases, which may hold strength through establishing critical CO2 thresholds and, thereafter associating it with the infectious doses of pathogen activity.
{"title":"Carbon dioxide as an indicator of bioaerosol activity and human health in K-12 school systems: a scoping review of current knowledge","authors":"M. Gangwar, Yusuf Jamal, M. Usmani, Chang-Yu Wu, A. Jutla","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/ad1c41","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/ad1c41","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in schools has received attention over the past decades but still lacks specific standards and regulations. This study aimed to review the impact of bioaerosol activity in indoor environments on acute respiratory diseases and explore whether carbon dioxide can be used as an indicator of bioaerosol and respiratory diseases in indoor environments in K-12 school systems. Findings suggest a lack of a consensual approach to evaluate bioaerosols impacting IAQ in indoor infrastructures, particularly in school environments; an elevated CO2 concentration inside the school classrooms was not uncommon, and the evidence of unsatisfactory and degraded IAQ (surpassing ASHRAE standards) at public schools in rural and urban settings in one of the North Central County, Florida. It was found that CO2 levels can be associated with bioaerosol activity, and sufficient ventilation within the space substantially reduces the airborne time of respiratory droplets and CO2 levels. CO2 monitoring can act as an effective, low-cost alternative to surveying or detecting the prevalence of respiratory diseases, which may hold strength through establishing critical CO2 thresholds and, thereafter associating it with the infectious doses of pathogen activity.","PeriodicalId":517104,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Health","volume":"10 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140512034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}