ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Weather and air pollution are associated with the exacerbation of respiratory diseases. We investigated patterns of medical care use according to meteorological factors and air pollution in patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS: We analyzed the medical care utilization patterns of patients with asthma or COPD registered in the Korea Health Insurance Review and Assessment database for the period 2007 to 2013. The patterns were divided into hospitalization and emergency department (ED) use. RESULTS: The medical care use of patients with asthma or COPD increased when the mean temperature and relative humidity were lower, and the temperature difference and atmospheric pressure were greater. Medical care use increased with the concentrations of particulate matter and ozone. Among age groups, sensitivity to pollutants was greatest in patients aged ≥ 65 years. The effect of being elderly was greater for asthma than for COPD, with a higher hospitalization rate. ED utilization affected by environmental factors was significantly greater for females and hospitalization was significantly more common for males. CONCLUSION: Meteorological factors and air pollutants were shown to contribute to increased medical care utilization by patients with asthma and COPD, particularly elderly patients. The overall effect was greater for COPD, but the effect in elderly patients was greater for asthma. In addition, the patterns of change in medical care use due to environmental factors differed according to sex.
Subject(s)
Air Pollutants , Air Pollution , Asthma , Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive , Aged , Air Pollutants/analysis , Air Pollution/analysis , Asthma/diagnosis , Asthma/epidemiology , Asthma/therapy , Female , Hospitalization , Humans , Male , Particulate Matter , Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive/diagnosis , Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive/epidemiology , Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive/therapyABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: We investigated seasonal variation of acute exacerbation of atrial fibrillation (AAF) and contributing environmental factors. METHODS: AAF events, meteorological elements, and air pollutants in Seoul between 2013 and 2015 were obtained from the nationwide database. AAF was defined if a patient visited the emergency room due to any AF-relevant symptoms or signs. RESULTS: AAF occurred less frequently in summer than in other seasons (6.71 vs 7.25âevents/d, Pâ=â0.005). AAF tended to decrease with an increase of air temperature (râ=â-0.058). Among air pollutants, NO2 was significantly lower in summer and positively correlated with AAF after adjusting for other variables (ßâ=â3.197). CONCLUSIONS: The rate of AAF events was the lowest in summer; air temperature and NO2 were contributing factors. The weather and environmental conditions should be considered as risk factors of AAF.
