Effect of Atmospheric Haze on Cardiovascular Diseases of Urban Residents in Guangzhou:a Time-Series Analysis / 环境与健康杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the effects of atmospheric haze and air pollutants(PM10, PM2.5), SO2, NO2 on hospital visits for cardiovascular diseases. Methods The relationship among atmospheric haze, air pollution and the outpatients data of Guangzhou for cardiovascular disease had been investigated by collecting the air pollution data, the meteorological data and cardiovascular diseases’ outpatients data in Guangzhou city from January 1, 2006 to December 31,2008 . The time-series analysis by auto-regression model was used, controlling for long -term trends, seasonal patterns and meteorological variables. Results Auto-regression model showed that the number of outpatients in 2008 was higher than that in 2006.The number was larger in April and December compared with that in January, and it was higher on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday than on Saturday, Sunday. There was a positive correlation between the haze level and cardiovascular outpatients. The number of hospital outpatients increased by 2.12 units with each additional day of the atmospheric haze. The haze level (lag2) of the former second day had a negative impact on the intraday data of outpatients. The residual parts showed that outpatients’ residual data (AR1, AR3) of the former first and third day had a positive effect on intraday outpatients’ residual data (increased by 52.25%, 26.1%), while the outpatients’ residual data of the former second day (AR2) had a negative effect on outpatients’ residual data of the present day (decreased by 17%). In addition, a variety of air pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, SO2, and NO2) showed some positive correlation, and had hysteresis. Conclusion The atmospheric haze, generated from suspended particulate, meteorological factor and gaseous pollutants, is the environmental pathogenic factor for the cardiovascular diseases, while the effects of single air pollutant on the hospital visit for cardiovascular diseases can be weakened by the haze pollution.