Air Pollution

Air Pollution Sickens Seniors

By Nancy Walsh, Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Published: April 21, 2012

Reviewed by Dori F. Zaleznik, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston.

Action Points

• A model using satellite data to predict short- and long-term exposure to small particulate matter in the atmosphere found increased hospitalizations for respiratory causes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and diabetes among exposed Medicare participants in New England.
• Note that the increases in hospitalizations for each of the conditions were highest for long-term exposure.

Both short-term and long-term exposure to fine-particle air pollution can lead to increased hospitalizations among older individuals, a prediction model analysis found.

For each 10 µg/m³ increase in short-term exposure to fine airborne particulate matter, there was a 0.70% (95% CI 0.35 to 0.52) increase in hospital admissions for respiratory illness among patients 65 and older, according to Joel D. Schwartz, PhD, and colleagues from Harvard University in Boston.

In addition, for each 10 µg/m³ increase in long-term exposure, there was a 4.22% (95% CI 1.06 to 4.75) increase in respiratory hospitalizations, the researchers reported online in PLoS One.