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. 2021 Mar 22;8(2):285-302.
doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2021022. eCollection 2021.

Ambient air pollution and emergency department visits among children and adults in Casablanca, Morocco

Chakib Nejjari  1   2 , Abdelghafour Marfak  3   4 , Ahmed Rguig  5 , Abderrahmane Maaroufi  5 , Ihssane El Marouani  6 , Abderrafii El Haloui  6 , Bouchra El Johra  7 , Rachid Ouahabi  5 , Rachid Moulki  8 , Amina Idrissi Azami  9 , Youness El Achhab  1   10
Affiliations

Ambient air pollution and emergency department visits among children and adults in Casablanca, Morocco

Chakib Nejjari et al. AIMS Public Health. .

Abstract

This study presents the relationships between ambient air pollutants and morbidity and emergency department visits among children and adults performed in Great Casablanca, the most populated and economic region in Morocco. This research was analyzed using conditional Poisson model for the period 2011-2013. In the period of study, the daily average concentrations of SO2, NO2, O3 and PM10 in Casablanca were 209.4 µg/m3, 61 µg/m3, 113.2 µg/m3 and 75.1 µg/m3, respectively. In children less than 5 years old, risk of asthma could be increased until 12% per 10 µg/m3 increase in NO2, PM10, SO2 and O3. In children over 5 years and adults, an increase of 10 µg/m3 air pollutant can cause an increase until 3% and 4% in respiratory consultations and acute respiratory infection, respectively. Similarly, impact on emergency department visits due to respiratory and cardiac illness was established. Our results suggest a not negligible impact on morbidity of outdoor air pollution by NO2, SO2, O3, and PM10.

Keywords: air pollution; conditional poisson model; emergency department visits; environmental health; respiratory diseases.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Map of Great Casablanca and their world location.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Mean daily concentration distributions of SO2 (A), NO2 (B), O3 (C), and PM10 (D) in Great Casablanca during 11/01/2011 to 10/31/2013. The horizontal lines represent the standard daily average limits of SO2 (125 µg/m3), NO2 (50 µg/m3), O3 (110 µg/m3) and PM10 (50 µg/m3) in Moroccan National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.. Relative risks (RRs with 95% CI) of upper acute respiratory infection (UARI), lower acute respiratory infection (LARI), pneumonia (PN), severe pneumonia (SPN), asthma, sore throat (ST), earaches and prescription of antibiotics and bronchodilators in association with per 10 µg/m3 increase in O3, NO2, PM10 and SO2 for children under 5 years in the population of Great Casablanca at different lag days (L0: lag0, L1: lag1, L2: lag2, L3: lag3 and L4: lag4).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.. Relative risks (RRs with 95% CI) of acute respiratory disease (ARD), respiratory consultations (RC), COPD, asthma, conjunctivitis and prescription of antibiotics and bronchodilators in association with per 10 µg/m3 increase in O3, NO2, PM10 and SO2 for children above 5 years and adults in the Great Casablanca population at different lag days (L0: lag0, L1: lag1, L2: lag2, L3: lag3 and L4: lag4).
Figure 5.
Figure 5.. Relative risks (RRs with 95% CI) of Emergency Department Visits (EDVs) due to respiratory diseases and cardiac diseases in association with per 10 µg/m3 increase in O3, NO2, PM10 and SO2 at different lag days (lag0 = L1, lag1 = L2, lag2 = L3, lag3 = L4).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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