Exposure to NO2 and children hospitalization due to respiratory diseases in Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brazil

The effects of exposure to air pollutants on human health are mainly reflected in respiratory diseases in children and elderly ones. An ecological time series study was carried out in Ribeirao Preto/SP data to examine the role of exposure to air pollutants and hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases in children under 10 years old. The study period was between January, 2011 and December, 2013. Particulate Matter (PM10) Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O-3), temperature and air relative humidity, were analyzed to estimate the association with hospital admissions using a generalized linear model of Poisson's regression with lags of zero up to seven days after exposure to pollutants, adjusted by the day of the week, seasonality and effective temperature. The significance level adopted was p < 0.05. NO2, when analyzed in single pollutant model shown to be significant at lag 2 and 3 and when analyzed in the multi-pollutant model it shown to be significant at lags 2 up to 5, and lag 7 with relative risk between 1.05 and 1.09 per 10 mu g/m(3) increase in NO2 concentration, with an excess of 150 hospital admission and substantial increase in costs to Public Health System. The data enable the local health managers can take action to minimize these effects.