ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: This study was the first to explore the relationship between Asian dust storm events (ADS) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) hospital admissions by applying time series models. DESIGN AND SAMPLE: Nationwide population-based hospitalization claims data in Taiwan were used. There were 143,063 AMI admissions during 2000-2009. MEASURES: An autoregressive with exogenous variables (ARX) time series model was used to investigate the dynamic connection between AMI hospital admissions and ADS events. RESULTS: AMI hospitalizations significantly spiked on post-ADS day three. Among the total population, 3.2 more cases of AMI admissions occurred on post-ADS day three. When the data were stratified by age and gender, the same delayed effect was present in the male population, especially those aged 45-64 and over 74. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that although an ADS event does not cause an immediate incidence of AMI, storms may increase AMI incidence through a delayed effect. Hence, AMI prevention is not only important during a dust storm, but particularly so in subsequent days. During the days after an ADS, exposure to dust should be minimized by staying indoors as much as possible and by wearing a mask when exposure to dust is unavoidable. This is especially true for working and older adults. Nurses at local public health centers can increase awareness and promote public safety by providing health information to local communities regarding the link between dust storms and AMI.
