Abstract
Epidemiological studies reported adverse effects of air pollution on the prevalence of respiratory diseases in children. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between air pollution and admissions for asthma and other respiratory diseases among children who were younger than 15 yr of age. The study used data on respiratory hospital admissions and air pollutant concentrations, including thoracic particulate matter (PM10), fine (PM2.5), and coarse (PM10-2.5) particulate matter in Zonguldak, Turkey. A bidirectional case-crossover design was used to calculate odds ratios for the admissions adjusted for daily meteorological parameters. Significant increases were observed for hospital admissions in children for asthma, allergic rhinitis (AR), and upper (UPRD) and lower (LWRD) respiratory diseases. All fraction of PM in children showed significant positive associations with asthma admissions. The highest association noted was 18% rise in asthma admissions correlated with a 10-mu g/m(3) increase in PM10-2.5 on the same day of admissions. The adjusted odds ratios for exposure to PM2.5 with an increment of 10 mu g/m(3) were 1.15 and 1.21 for asthma and allergic rhinitis with asthma, respectively. PM10 exerted significant effects on hospital admissions for all outcomes, including asthma, AR, UPRD, and LWRD. Our study suggested a greater effect of fine and coarse PM on asthma hospital admissions compared with PM10 in children.