Hospital admissions for asthma and acute bronchitis in El Paso, Texas: do age, sex, and insurance status modify the effects of dust and low wind events?

ABSTRACT:

Background

El Paso County (Texas) is prone to still air inversions and is one of the dust "hot spots" in North America. In this context, we examined the sub-lethal effects of airborne dust and low wind events on human respiratory health (i.e., asthma and acute bronchitis) between 2000 and 2003, when 110 dust and 157 low wind events occurred. Because environmental conditions may not affect everyone the same, we explored the effects of dust and low wind within three age groups (children, adults, and the elderly), testing for effect modifications by sex and insurance status, while controlling for weather and air pollutants.

Methods

We used a case-crossover design using events matched with referent days on the same day-of-the-week, month, and year with conditional logistic regre

SUBMITTER: Grineski SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3572938 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature