Emergency Room Visits of Asthmatic Children, Relation to Air Pollution, Weather, and Airborne Allergens

A program designed to teach self-management skills to asthmatic children and their parents was performed by a nurse-educator utilizing health education techniques. Goals included: (1) reduce frequency and severity of asthma; (2) reduce emergency room visits and hospitalizations; (3) reduce school absenteeism; (4) develop positive family self-help attitudes; and (5) incorporate patient-parent education in an office. After informed consent was obtained, 26 asthmatic children, aged 2 to 14 years, were selected and evaluated. Appropriate asthma management including avoidance, medications, and immunotherapy, if indicated, was initiated for both a study group (13 patients) and a comparison group (13 patients). Symptom and medication diaries were kept for six to 18 months. Educational intervention by a nurse-educator, including four hours of individual instruction, group classes, telephone access, and monitoring for the study patients, resulted in fewer hospitalizations and emergency room visits as compared to control patients, tenfold less school absenteeism, and fewer asthma attacks. Estimated hospital and emergency room costs were much less in the educated group. These results were accomplished by improving comprehension of and compliance with the medical management program by the study patients and their families; more medications were used and therapy for asthma was initiated earlier.

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Air Pollution, Aeroallergens, and Emergency Room Visits for Acute Respiratory Diseases and Gastroenteric Disorders among Young Children in Six Italian Cities

Environmental Health Perspectives ◽

10.1289/ehp.0900599 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 117 (11) ◽

pp. 1780-1785 ◽

Cited By ~ 45

Author(s):

Flavia Orazzo ◽

Luigi Nespoli ◽

Kazuhiko Ito ◽

Davide Tassinari ◽

Daniela Giardina ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Young Children ◽

Emergency Room ◽

Respiratory Diseases ◽

Emergency Room Visits ◽

Acute Respiratory Diseases

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SIZE-FRACTIONED PARTICULATE AIR POLLUTION AND CARDIOVASCULAR EMERGENCY ROOM VISITS IN BEIJING, CHINA

ISEE Conference Abstracts ◽

10.1289/isee.2011.01227 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 2011 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Liqun Liu ◽

Susanne Breitner ◽

Alexandra Schneider ◽

Josef Cyrys ◽

Irene Brüske ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Emergency Room ◽

Emergency Room Visits ◽

Particulate Air Pollution ◽

Beijing China

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The Relationship between Air Pollution and Emergency Room Visits in an Industrial Community

Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association ◽

10.1080/00022470.1981.10465214 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 31 (3) ◽

pp. 236-240 ◽

Cited By ~ 78

Author(s):

Jonathan M. Samet ◽

Frank E. Speizer ◽

Yvonne Bishop ◽

John D. Spengler ◽

Benjamin G. Ferris

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Emergency Room ◽

Emergency Room Visits ◽

Industrial Community ◽

The Relationship

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Air pollution and children's health: sickle cell disease

Cadernos de Saúde Pública ◽

10.1590/0102-311x00013214 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 31 (2) ◽

pp. 265-275 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Silvia Maria de Macedo Barbosa ◽

Sylvia Costa Lima Farhat ◽

Lourdes Conceição Martins ◽

Luiz Alberto Amador Pereira ◽

Paulo Hilário Nascimento Saldiva ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Sickle Cell Disease ◽

Emergency Room ◽

Sickle Cell ◽

Cardiovascular Health ◽

Pediatric Emergency ◽

Emergency Room Visits ◽

Cell Disease ◽

Day Of The Week ◽

Pain Symptoms

The hallmarks of sickle cell disease are anemia and vasculopathy. The aim of this study was to assess the association between air pollution and children's emergency room visits of sickle cell patients. We adopted a case-crossover design. Daily counts of children's and adolescents' sickle cell disease emergency room visits from the pediatric emergency unit in São Paulo, Brazil, were evaluated from September 1999 to December 2004, matching by temperature, humidity and controlling for day of the week. Interquartile range increases of the four-day moving averages of PM10, NO2, SO2, CO, and O3 were associated with increases of 18.9% (95%CI: 11.2-26.5), 19% (95%CI: 8.3-29.6), 14.4% (95%CI: 6.5-22.4), 16,5% (95%CI: 8.9-24.0), and 9.8% (95%CI: 1.1-18.6) in total sickle cell emergency room visits, respectively. When the analyses were stratified by pain, PM10 was found to be 40.3% higher than in sickle cell patients without pain symptoms. Exposure to air pollution can affect the cardiovascular health of children and may promote a significant health burden in a sensitive group.

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