The effects of air quality on hospital admissions for chronic respiratory diseases in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, 2013-2015
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-1-2021
Abstract
This study assesses the impact of a decrease in air quality and the risk of hospital admissions to a public hospital for chronic respiratory diseases for residents of Petaling Jaya, a city in the Greater Kuala Lumpur area in Malaysia. Data on hospital admissions for asthma, bronchitis, emphysema and other chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, weather conditions and the Malaysian Air Pollution Index, a composite indicator of air quality, were collated. An unconstrained distributed lag model to obtain risk of hospitalization for a 10 mu g/m(3) increase in the API. The lag cumulative effect for a 10 mu g/m(3) increase in the API was calculated to test for harvesting in the short term. Findings indicate that after an initial decrease in admissions (days 3 and 4), admissions increased again at day 7 and 8 and this relationship was significant. We therefore conclude that a 10 mu g/m(3) increase has a greater effect on admissions for respiratory health in the short term than a harvesting effect alone would suggest. These results suggest that while air quality is improving in the Greater Kuala Lumpur area, no level of air pollution can be deemed safe.
Keywords
Air pollution, Chronic respiratory disease, Hospital admissions, Urban poor, Malaysia
Divisions
fac_med
Funders
British Council Newton Ungku Omar Institutional Links Grant[IF017-2015],Universiti Malaya[RK002-2015],Allan Turing Institute[109457R]
Publication Title
Atmosphere
Volume
12
Issue
8
Publisher
MDPI
Publisher Location
ST ALBAN-ANLAGE 66, CH-4052 BASEL, SWITZERLAND