Ozone is associated with cardiopulmonary and stroke emergency hospital visits in Reykjavik, Iceland 2003–2009

Environmental Health: April 8, 2013

Background

Air pollution exposure is associated with hospital admissions and emergency room visits for cardiopulmonary disease and stroke. Iceland’s capital area, Reykjavik, has generally low air pollution levels, but traffic and natural sources contribute to pollution levels. The objective of this study was to investigate temporal associations between emergency hospital visits and air pollutants ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and particulate matter (PM10) in the Icelandic capital area.

Methods

We constructed a time series of the daily number of adults who visited the emergency room, or were acutely admitted for stroke or cardiorespiratory causes to Landspitali University Hospital 1 January 2003 — 31 December 2009 from the hospital in-patient register. Read more