Recent evidence has implicated the fine fraction of particulate as the major contributor to the increase in mortality and morbidity related to particulate ambient levels. We therefore evaluated the impact of daily variation of ambient PM2.5 and other pollutants on the number of daily respiratory-related emergency visits (REVs) to a large pediatric hospital of Santiago, Chile. The study was cond...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the prevalence of respiratory symptoms as the motive for emergency room visits by adult and pediatric patients, describing the major clinical syndromes diagnosed and the outcomes of the patients. METHODS A cross-sectional study conducted in the emergency room of a tertiary care university hospital. Between November of 2008 and November of 2009, we reviewed the total numb...

Acute effects of air pollution on respiratory health have traditionally been investigated with data on inpatient admissions, emergency room visits, and mortality. In this study, we aim to describe the total acute effects of air pollution on health care use for respiratory symptoms (ICD10-J00-J99). This will be done by investigating primary health care (PHC) visits, inpatient admissions, and eme...

BACKGROUND Significant pleural effusions after the Fontan operation prolong hospital stay, may increase the risk of infection, and may necessitate a pleurodesis procedure. METHODS AND RESULTS From February 1991 to April 2000, 98 consecutive patients under the age of 18 years underwent the fenestrated Fontan procedure at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. Ninety-four patients who survived at le...

BACKGROUND During September 2009, a large dust storm was experienced in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Extremely high levels of particulate matter were recorded, with daily average levels of coarse matter (<10 μm) peaking over 11,000 μg/m3 and fine (<2.5 μm) over 1,600 μg/m3. We conducted an analysis to determine whether the dust storm was associated with increases in all-cause, cardiovasc...

BACKGROUND Ambient particulate matter (PM) has an adverse effect on respiratory morbidity. Desert dust outbreaks contribute to increased PM levels but the toxicity of desert dust mixed with anthropogenic pollutants needs clarification. METHODS We identified 132 days with desert dust episodes and 177 matched days by day of the week, season, temperature and humidity between 2001 and 2006 in Ath...

BACKGROUND The adverse health effects of Asian dust (AD) on the respiratory system of children are unclear. We hypothesized that AD events may lead to increased visits by children to emergency medical centers due to bronchial asthma and respiratory diseases, including bronchial asthma. METHODS We used anonymized data on children receiving primary emergency treatment at Nagasaki Municipal Prim...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study is to evaluate in a time-series study the short-term effects of particulate matter-2.5exposure on respiratory emergency visits in six central-southern Chilean cities highly contaminated by wood smoke. METHODS: Association was assessed using both distributed lag linear and non-linear Poisson models constrai...

Although respiratory disease has been strongly connected to fine particulate air pollution (particulate matter <2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5)), evidence has been mixed regarding the effects of coarse particles (particulate matter from 2.5 to 10 μm in diameter), possibly because of the greater spatial heterogeneity of coarse particles. In this study, we evaluated the relationship between coarse par...