The relationship between air pollution parameters and emergency department admissions and hospitalizations due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in Karaman between 2012 and 2018

The study was aimed at determining the relationship between air pollution parameters and emergency department admissions (EDAs) and hospitalizations due to cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and respiratory diseases (RD). The study is an ecological type study. In the study, the records kept by three hospitals in Karaman, a city in south central Turkey, between 2012 and 2018 were analyzed. The study included 632.223 people aged ≥18 years. Of these people, 591.490 were EDAs and 40.733 were hospitalized. Their diagnostic codes were either I00-I99 or J00-J99, 2 of the ICD-10 diagnostic codes. In the study, 24-hour averages of particulate matter (PM10) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) measurements were evaluated. In the analysis of the data, of the Poisson Regressions, the Generalized Linear Model (GLM) and Generalized Additive Model (GAM) were used. According to the GAM models, existence of a segmented linear pattern was determined between PM10 levels and the number of EDAs and/or hospitalizations due to CVD and/or RD. A segmented linear pattern was found to exist between the total number of EDAs, RD-related EDAs and SO2 levels; and between the total number of CVD- and/or RD-related hospitalizations and SO2 levels. According to GLM model, per 1 µg/m3 increase in PM10 level increased the risk of total hospitalizations and CVD-related hospitalizations by 0.1% each. It was determined that per 1 µg/m3 increase in SO2 increased the risk of CVD- and RD-related EDAs by 0.2% and 0.3% respectively, and CVD-related hospitalizations by 0.1%. Per 1 µg/m3 increase in SO2 increased the risk of EDAs and hospitalizations due to CVD or RD by 0.2% for each. It is recommended that policies to reduce air pollution should be implemented, that the public's awareness of air pollution should be increased and that individuals should take their own measures to protect themselves from the hazards of air pollution on the days when air pollution is dense.