TY - JOUR AU - Mehta, Amar J AU - Schindler, Christian AU - Perez, Laura AU - Probst-Hensch, Nicole AU - Schwartz, Joel AU - Brändl, Otto AU - Karrer, Werner AU - Tschopp, Jean Marie AU - Rochat, Thierry AU - Künzli, Nino PY - 2012/10/07 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Acute respiratory health effects of urban air pollutants in adults with different patterns of underlying respiratory disease JF - Swiss Medical Weekly JA - Swiss Med Wkly VL - 142 IS - 4142 SE - Original article DO - 10.4414/smw.2012.13681 UR - https://smw.ch/index.php/smw/article/view/1601 SP - w13681 AB - <p><p>OBJECTIVE: Whether underlying chronic respiratory diseases are susceptible factors for symptomatic episodes, which lead to primary-level care, in association with air pollutant exposures is unknown. We evaluated and compared association lag structures between daily ambient levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO<sub>2</sub>) and total suspended particulates (TSP) and respiratory symptom-related doctor visits in adults with different patterns of underlying chronic respiratory disease.</p> <p>METHODS: In a time-stratified case-crossover analysis nested within a diary panel study, 459 Swiss adult participants with asthma, chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and healthy participants recorded occurrence of respiratory-symptom related doctor visits (n = 1,048) in one to six four-week intervals over two years. For each disease subgroup, odds ratios (ORs) for doctor visit were estimated as a function of NO<sub>2</sub> or TSP concentrations (per 10 micrograms per cubic meter [µg/m<sup>3</sup>]) lagged between 0–13 days in a polynomial distributed lag model.</p> <p>RESULTS: Higher ORs for NO<sub>2</sub> in participants with COPD (OR: 1.17, 95%CI: 1.02–1.35) and asthma (OR: 1.15, 95%CI: 1.02–1.30) occurred at exposure lags of two and five days, respectively. Doctor visits increased by 9.1% (95%CI: 3.2–15.4%) and 4.2% (95%CI: 1.2–7.2%) over the first week following a 10 µg/m<sup>3</sup> increase in NO<sub>2</sub> concentration in the COPD and chronic bronchitis subgroups, respectively. The percent increase in the COPD subgroup was significantly greater (<em>p</em> &lt;0.05) when compared with the healthy subgroup. Observed findings were similar for TSP.</p> <p>CONCLUSIONS: Respiratory problems leading to a doctor visit, associated with an increase in exposure to NO<sub>2</sub> and TSP, may have a faster dynamic in individuals with COPD.</p></p> ER -