Association between Air Pollution and Emergency Room Visits for Atrial Fibrillation

Bibliographic Data

ID15499646
AuthorsAngelo G Solimini (0000-0002-5281-7624, Sapienza University of Rome, corresponding author), Angelo Solimini (Sapienza University of Rome), Matteo Renzi (0000-0002-0282-5378, Department of Epidemiology, Lazio Regional Health Service, ASL Rome 1, 00147 Rome, Italy)
Year2017
Volume14
Issue6
Pages661-661
Publication date2017-06-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1661-7827 • E-ISSN: 1660-4601
PublisherMultidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3390/ijerph14060661
PMID28632149
OpenAlexW2702236332
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited54

Despite the large prevalence in the population, possible factors responsible for the induction of atrial fibrillation (AF) events in susceptible individuals remain incompletely understood. We investigated the association between air pollution levels and emergency department admissions for AF in Rome. We conducted a 14 years' time-series study to evaluate the association between the daily levels of air pollution (particulate matter, PM 10 and PM 2.5 , and nitrogen dioxide, NO2) and the daily count of emergency accesses for AF (ICD-9 code: 427.31). We applied an over-dispersed conditional Poisson model to analyze the associations at different lags after controlling for time, influenza epidemics, holiday periods, temperature, and relative humidity. Additionally, we evaluated bi-pollutant models by including the other pollutant and the influence of several effect modifiers such as personal characteristics and pre-existing medical conditions. In the period of study, 79,892 individuals were admitted to the emergency departments of Rome hospitals because of AF (on average, 15.6 patients per day: min = 1, max = 36). Air pollution levels were associated with increased AF emergency visits within 24 h of exposure. Effect estimates ranged between 1.4% (0.7-2.3) for a 10 μg/m3 increase of PM 10 to 3% (1.4-4.7) for a 10 μg/m3 increase of PM 2.5 at lag 0-1 day. Those effects were higher in patients ≥75 years for all pollutants, male patients for PM 10 , and female patients for NO2. The presence of previous cardiovascular conditions, but not other effect modifiers, increase the pollution effects by 5-8% depending on the lag. This study found evidence that air pollution is associated with AF emergency visits in the short term

Air pollutants · Air pollution · Atrial fibrillation · Biology · Emergency department · Environmental health · Geography · Meteorology · Names of the days of the week · Nitrogen dioxide · Poisson regression · Pollutant · Population · Psychiatry · Air Quality and Health Impacts · Climate Change and Health Impacts · Demography · Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life · Medicine · Emergency Medicine · Internal Medicine · Toxicology

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