Evaluating changes in ambient ozone and respiratory-related healthcare utilization in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

ABSTRACT: Ozone pollution is a known respiratory irritant, yet we do not fully understand the magnitude or timing of respiratory effects based on short-term exposure. We investigated the associations between ambient ozone concentrations and respiratory symptoms as measured by healthcare utilization events. We used comprehensive electronic health records to identify respiratory responses to changes in ambient ozone levels. We constructed a dataset from Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic States (KPMAS) that included information on 2013 and 2014 daily utilization rates for a broad range of healthcare utilization - nurse calls/emails, provider visits, emergency department and urgent care visits (ED/UC) and hospital admissions - by census block. We used 8-h average ozone concentrations collected from 48 air

SUBMITTER: Fuller CH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8079178 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature