Environmental pollutants and odds of hospitalization for asthma in children - São José Dos Campos, Brazil, in the years 2004-2005

Abstract

Objective: to estimate the association between exposure to air pollutants and hospital admissions for asthma. Methods: this is an ecological study of time series, which included individuals from 0 to10 years living in Sao Jose dos Campos, for the period 2004 to 2005.Data of hospitalizations for asthma were obtained from DATASUS. The data of ambient levels of particulate matter, sulfur dioxideand ozone were obtained from the Company of Technology of Environmental Sanitation (CETESB) and temperature and humidity from the Foundation for Science, Technology and Space Applications(FUNCATE). Lag models have been made from 0 to 7 days and analyzed by binary logistic regression,yielding odds ratios and their confidence intervals of 95% by SPSS 15.0. Results: there were 809admissions, ranging from 0 to 7. It was possible to identify an association of the particulate matterboth on the same day of exposure and the next third, fifth and sixth days with the admissions; sulfurdioxide was associated with hospitalizations in the first, second and third days after exposure andozone on the third day after exposure to gas. Thus, this study showed an association between airpollutants and asthma hospitalization in a medium-sized city.