TITLE:
A Study of Human Thermal Comfort, Ozone and Respiratory Diseases in Children
AUTHORS:
Amaury de Souza, Flavio Aristone, Luciane Fernandes
KEYWORDS:
Air Pollution, Adverse Effects, Child Health (Public Health), Respiratory Diseases, Temperature, Lag
JOURNAL NAME:
Atmospheric and Climate Sciences,
Vol.4 No.4,
October
17,
2014
ABSTRACT: Objective: To assess the impact of air pollution and ozone on morbidity due to
respiratory diseases among children from 2005 to 2008. Methods: The database was
composed by daily reports on visits by children with respiratory diseases in
health units of the Unified Health System (SUS) in the municipality of Campo
Grande, MS, Brazil, by daily levels of ozone concentration measured by the
Department of Physics, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, and by daily
measurements of temperature and relative humidity provided by the Agricultural
Research Corporation-EMBRAPA Gado de Corte-MS. The relationship between
respiratory diseases and ozone concentration was investigated through
Generalized Linear Models (GLM) using the multiple Poisson regression model.
The significance level α = 5% was
adopted for all tests. Results: It was observed that
the association between ozone (lagged by three time-steps) and attendance for
respiratory diseases in children was statistically significant. The
bio-meteorological variable Wind-adjusted Effective Temperature (lagged by four
time-steps) was also significantly associated with diseases. Conclusions: The results suggest
that the surface ozone concentration promotes adverse effects on children’s
health even when pollutant levels are below the amounts permitted by law.