Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jan 3;19(1):495.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19010495.

Short-Term Joint Effects of PM10, NO2 and SO2 on Cardio-Respiratory Disease Hospital Admissions in Cape Town, South Africa

Temitope Christina Adebayo-Ojo  1   2 , Janine Wichmann  3 , Oluwaseyi Olalekan Arowosegbe  1   2 , Nicole Probst-Hensch  1   2 , Christian Schindler  1   2 , Nino Künzli  1   2
Affiliations

Short-Term Joint Effects of PM10, NO2 and SO2 on Cardio-Respiratory Disease Hospital Admissions in Cape Town, South Africa

Temitope Christina Adebayo-Ojo et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Background/aim: In sub-Sahara Africa, few studies have investigated the short-term association between hospital admissions and ambient air pollution. Therefore, this study explored the association between multiple air pollutants and hospital admissions in Cape Town, South Africa.

Methods: Generalized additive quasi-Poisson models were used within a distributed lag linear modelling framework to estimate the cumulative effects of PM10, NO2, and SO2 up to a lag of 21 days. We further conducted multi-pollutant models and stratified our analysis by age group, sex, and season.

Results: The overall relative risk (95% confidence interval (CI)) for PM10, NO2, and SO2 at lag 0-1 for hospital admissions due to respiratory disease (RD) were 1.9% (0.5-3.2%), 2.3% (0.6-4%), and 1.1% (-0.2-2.4%), respectively. For cardiovascular disease (CVD), these values were 2.1% (0.6-3.5%), 1% (-0.8-2.8%), and -0.3% (-1.6-1.1%), respectively, per inter-quartile range increase of 12 µg/m3 for PM10, 7.3 µg/m3 for NO2, and 3.6 µg/m3 for SO2. The overall cumulative risks for RD per IQR increase in PM10 and NO2 for children were 2% (0.2-3.9%) and 3.1% (0.7-5.6%), respectively.

Conclusion: We found robust associations of daily respiratory disease hospital admissions with daily PM10 and NO2 concentrations. Associations were strongest among children and warm season for RD.

Keywords: Cape Town; DLNM; South Africa; ambient air pollution; cardiovascular disease; multi pollutant; respiratory disease; short-term; time-series analysis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Estimated overall (lag 0–1) relative risks (with 95% confidence intervals) for respiratory (RD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) admissions, per one interquartile range increase in the two day moving averages of PM10 (top panel), NO2 (middle panel), and SO2 (bottom panel) for single and multipollutant models. Sex- and age-specific estimates are reported in the Supplementary Materials.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Season-specific relative risks of RD and CVD hospitalizations per interquartile range increase in the two day moving average (lag 0–1) of the respective pollutant. Summer season (January–April and September–December) and winter season (May–August), for respiratory (upper panel) and cardiovascular (lower panel) diseases, with bars representing 95% confidence intervals.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Estimated lagged effects (over 21 days) of PM10, NO2, and SO2 on respiratory disease hospital admissions, overall, and by age group for PM10 in Cape Town, South Africa, 2011–2016. Effect estimates are per 10 µg/m3 increment of the respective pollutant.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Lag structure (0–21) of the effects of a 10 µg/m3 increase in PM10, NO2, and SO2 concentrations on cardiovascular disease hospital admissions in Cape Town, South Africa, 2011–2016.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization WHO | Ambient Air Pollution. [(accessed on 16 March 2019)]. Available online: https://www.who.int/airpollution/ambient/en/
    1. World Health Organization Ten Threats to Global Health in 2019. [(accessed on 16 March 2019)]. Available online: https://www.who.int/vietnam/news/feature-stories/detail/ten-threats-to-g....
    1. World Health Organization . WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines: Particulate Matter (PM2.5 and PM10), Ozone, Nitrogen Dioxide, Sulfur Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide. World Health Organization; Geneva, Switzerland: 2021. - PubMed
    1. Faustini A., Stafoggia M., Colais P., Berti G., Bisanti L., Cadum E., Cernigliaro A., Mallone S., Scarnato C., Forastiere F. Air pollution and multiple acute respiratory outcomes. Eur. Respir. J. 2013;42:304–313. doi: 10.1183/09031936.00128712. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Collart P., Dubourg D., Levêque A., Sierra N.B., Coppieters Y. Short-term effects of nitrogen dioxide on hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease in Wallonia, Belgium. Int. J. Cardiol. 2018;255:231–236. doi: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2017.12.058. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

Substances