Correlations between ambient air pollution and the prevalence of hospitalisations and emergency room visits for respiratory diseases in children: a systematic review.

Objective: It is known that exposure to air pollution is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. This review aimed to summarise observational studies on the impact of short and long-term exposure to ambient air pollution on prevalence of hospitalisations and/or emergency department visits caused by respiratory diseases in children and adolescents.

Sources: Pubmed, Scopus, Embase and Cochrane Library databases were searched for the years 2018 to December 2022, including studies in any language.

Summary of the findings: A total of 15 studies published between 2018 and 15 January 2022 were included in this review. PM_2.5 was the most type of particulate matter studied. Short-term exposure to PM_2,5, PM₁₀, NO₂, SO₂ and O₃, even at concentrations less than the current health-based guidelines, was significantly correlated with increased risk of outpatient/hospital visits and hospitalisations for respiratory diseases by children.

Conclusions: Our findings emphasise the importance and urgency of long-term control of air pollution and pollution-related diseases, especially among children and adolescents. There is a need for further research employing more homogeneous methodologies for assessing exposure and outcome measurements, in order to enable systematic reviews with meta-analysis.