The objective of this case-control study was to evaluate whether traffic-related air pollution exposure at home increases the risk of asthma in adults and to compare two commonly used exposure variables and differences between urban and rural living. Incident cases of asthma and matched controls of subjects aged 20-60 yrs were recruited in Luleå, Sweden. In total 203 cases and 203 controls were...

Land use regression (LUR) modelling is a common approach used in European and Northern American epidemiological studies to assess urban and traffic related air pollution exposures. Studies applying LUR in Africa are lacking. A need exists to understand if this approach holds for an African setting, where urban features, pollutant exposures and data availability differ considerably from other co...

BACKGROUND Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) affects approximately 1 in 1000 live births and is the most common cause of infant death after the perinatal period. OBJECTIVE To determine the influence of air pollution on the incidence of SIDS. METHODS Time-series analyses were performed to compare the daily mortality rates for SIDS and the daily air pollution concentrations in each of 12 Ca...

The association between ambient air pollution and adverse health effects, such as emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and mortality from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, has been studied extensively in many countries, including Canada. Recently, studies conducted in China, the Czech Republic, and the United States have related ambient air pollution to adverse pregnancy outcomes. In...

Air pollution isn’t just bad for those who breathe it; it also could potentially impact the future health of unborn babies. For instance, maternal exposures to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) have been associated with small but consistent decreases in birth weight. However, associations with preterm birth have been less consistent. A new study of more than 258,000 New...

In recent years there has been more awareness about the impact of air pollution on the incidence of acute and chronic diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation of certain meteorological factors, the concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the air and the number of patients who were admitted in the Emergency Department of Internal Medicine, Sestre milosrdnice University ...

BACKGROUND Concentrations of ambient air pollution and pollutants in China have changed considerably during the last decade. However, few studies have evaluated the effects of current ambient air pollution on the health of kindergarten children. METHODS We studied 6730 Chinese children (age, 3-7 years) from 50 kindergartens in 7 cities of Northeast China in 2009. Parents or guardians complete...

BACKGROUND Although particulate matter, with diameters < 2.5 µm (PM2.5) and < 10 µm (PM10), and other pollutants have been associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, the effect of pollutants on acute myocardial infarctions (AMIs) has rarely been investigated in Asia, especially in Shanghai, China. METHODS Between 1 November 2013 and 27 April 2014, 972 patients from the Pudong Dis...