scholarly journals Trend of asthma prevalence among children based on regional urbanization level in Japan; 2006–2019

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. e2021027
Author(s):  
Tasuku Okui

Although it has been known that the prevalence of asthma tends to be higher among children in the metropolitan areas of Japan, trends of the prevalence with respect to the regional urbanization level has not been investigated in recent years. We investigated trends in the prevalence of asthma among children and air pollutant concentrations by regional urbanization levels using data from the School Health Statistics Survey in Japan from 2006 to 2019. We calculated the age-standardized prevalence of asthma for each year, gender, regional urbanization level, and annual percent change (APC). In addition, the slope index of inequality (SII) and relative index of inequality (RII) were calculated for evaluating disparity in age-standardized asthma prevalence depending on regional urbanization levels. Moreover, we calculated the mean of the annual average values by regional urbanization levels for sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), suspended particulate matter (SPM), carbon monoxide (CO), and photochemical oxidant (Ox) from 2006 to 2018. We found that the age-standardized prevalence significantly decreased in the periods in the metropolis for males and females, and the degree of the decrease was largest in the metropolis. Conversely, the age-standardized prevalence increased in towns and villages, and the APC was greater than zero. In addition, both the SII and RII showed significant decreasing trends in the study period, and the regional disparity shrank over the years. Moreover, concentrations of the air pollutants were highest in the metropolis throughout the years except for Ox, whereas the difference in the concentrations of NO2, SPM, and CO decreased between the metropolis and the other areas over the years. In conclusion, disparity in asthma prevalence depending on regional urbanization level decreased from 2006 to 2019, and there is a possibility that regional difference in trend of the air pollutants is related to the result.

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 00166-2020
Author(s):  
Hiroshi Odajima ◽  
Toshiaki Kawano ◽  
Masatoshi Wakatsuki ◽  
Yuko Akaminea ◽  
Koki Okabe ◽  
...  

The relationship between the annual changes of the prevalence of bronchial asthma (BA) and that of concentrations of air pollutants has not been reported.We studied the annual prevalence of BA, remission of BA, and wheeze in children at the same five elementary schools in Fukuoka city, Japan, in October to November from 1988 to 2016 by the same methods using the same questionnaire.Annual changes in the prevalence of asthma among boys were related to changes in the air concentrations of NO (r=0.708), NO2 (r=0.665) suspended particulate matter (SPM) (r=0.803), and smoking rate (r=0.741), but there were no such relationships among girls. Annual changes in the prevalence of wheeze were related to changes of NO, NO2, SPM, and smoking rate among boys and girls (NO: r=0.650, 0.660; NO2: r=0.556, 0.490; SPM: r=0.582, 0.518; smoking rate: r=0.656, 0.593, respectively) (all of the above are significant with p<0.05). There was no relationship between remission of BA and any of the pollutants.Annual changes in the prevalence of boys' BA and boys' and girls' wheeze among first-grade children (age 6 or 7 years) in Fukuoka were correlated with changes in the concentration of air pollutants (SPM, NO, NO2 or smoking rate).Recent decrease of asthma prevalence in this area might be related to the decreasing tendency of air pollutant concentration. The causal relationship between the two will need to be verified in the future


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dharmendra Singh ◽  
Minakshi Dahiya ◽  
Chintan Nanda

Abstract Air pollutant concentration, Air Quality Index (AQI) and Excess Risk (ER %) is assessed in three scenarios including pre-lockdown, lockdown and post-lockdown based on 47 ground station data (during January 2020 to June 2020) distributed over northern part of India using statistics and geographic information system (GIS) techniques. Significant decrease in pollutants concentration, AQI and ER % was observed in lockdown period amid COVID-19. PM2.5, PM10, NO2, NH3 and CO decreased by 46%, 31%, 39%, 24% and 34% respectively, in lockdown scenario as compared to the pre-lockdown scenario. A decrease of 39% in AQI was observed as compared to pre-lockdown scenario however the difference was less when compared with post-lockdown scenario. The decrease in total ER % was 60.36 % over the study area due to improvement in air quality amid COVID-19 lockdown. The meteorological conditions were found consistent in the current year with respect to previous year and very less influence was observed on the concentration of air pollutants. The major implications of the current findings are air pollution management, health risk management, and pollution source and type identification.


Author(s):  
Celal Taşdoğan ◽  
Bilgen Taşdoğan

Turkey has realized high growth rates during the period of 2002-2011, except in 2008 and 2009 years. It is thought that the rapidly growing in the country may cause a lot of environmental damage, especially air pollution problems. In other words, the productive sectors have produced two outputs which are economic value added and air pollutants. This study used input output matrixes are to find out the strategically important sectors as it is known key sectors and weak sectors caused the environmental effects in the country. For this purpose, it has been tried to investigate air pollutant quantities which caused by the production process of the sectors in the period of 2002-2011 and performed the input-output tables for Turkey constructed in the World Input Output Database (WIOD) Project. These input-output tables include the emission satellite accounts, which are CO2 emissions and other air pollutants, respectively N2O, CH4, N2O, NOx, SOx, CO, NMVOC and NH3, disaggregated for the 34 sectors. It is expected that the outcomes of the study may contribute to sustainable growth debates and environmental policy implementations in Turkey.


Author(s):  
Qiwei Yu ◽  
Liqiang Zhang ◽  
Kun Hou ◽  
Jingwen Li ◽  
Suhong Liu ◽  
...  

Exposure to air pollution has been suggested to be associated with an increased risk of women’s health disorders. However, it remains unknown to what extent changes in ambient air pollution affect gynecological cancer. In our case–control study, the logistic regression model was combined with the restricted cubic spline to examine the association of short-term exposure to air pollution with gynecological cancer events using the clinical data of 35,989 women in Beijing from December 2008 to December 2017. We assessed the women’s exposure to air pollutants using the monitor located nearest to each woman’s residence and working places, adjusting for age, occupation, ambient temperature, and ambient humidity. The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were examined to evaluate gynecologic cancer risk in six time windows (Phase 1–Phase 6) of women’s exposure to air pollutants (PM2.5, CO, O3, and SO2) and the highest ORs were found in Phase 4 (240 days). Then, the higher adjusted ORs were found associated with the increased concentrations of each pollutant (PM2.5, CO, O3, and SO2) in Phase 4. For instance, the adjusted OR of gynecological cancer risk for a 1.0-mg m−3 increase in CO exposures was 1.010 (95% CI: 0.881–1.139) below 0.8 mg m−3, 1.032 (95% CI: 0.871–1.194) at 0.8–1.0 mg m−3, 1.059 (95% CI: 0.973–1.145) at 1.0–1.4 mg m−3, and 1.120 (95% CI: 0.993–1.246) above 1.4 mg m−3. The ORs calculated in different air pollution levels accessed us to identify the nonlinear association between women’s exposure to air pollutants (PM2.5, CO, O3, and SO2) and the gynecological cancer risk. This study supports that the gynecologic risks associated with air pollution should be considered in improved public health preventive measures and policymaking to minimize the dangerous effects of air pollution.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonica Singhal ◽  
Sarah Orr ◽  
Harkirat Singh ◽  
Menaka Shanmuganantha ◽  
Heather Manson

Abstract Background Hospitals’ emergency rooms (ERs) are generally the first point of contact of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) victims to the health care system. For efficient management and resource allocation for ERs to manage DVA-related emergencies in Canada, it is important to quantify and assess the pattern of these visits. Methods Aggregate DVA-related ER visits data, using relevant ICD-10-CA codes, from 2012 to 2016 were retrieved from IntelliHealth Ontario. The 2011 ON-Marg (Ontario Marginalization) indices were linked at the Dissemination Area level to ER data. Descriptive analyses including total number and rate of visits per 100,000 people were calculated, stratified by age and sex. The Slope Index of Inequality (SII) and Relative Index of Inequality (RII) were also assessed. Results From 2012 to 2016, 10,935 (81.2% by females and 18.8% by males) DVA-related visits were made to ERs in Ontario. An annual average of 25.5 visits per 100,000 females and 6.1 visits per 100,000 males was observed. Residential instability and deprivation were significant predictors of DVA-related ER visits. No particular site of injury was indicated in 38.5% of visits, 24.7% presented with cranio-maxillofacial (CMF) trauma in isolation, 28.9% presented with non-CMF injuries, and 7.9% visits presented with both CMF and non-CMF injuries. Conclusion This study identified that the burden of DVA-related ER visits is large enough to warrant timely public health interventions, and observed that certain populations in Ontario experience more DVA and/or are more prone to its impact. Our findings have important implications for various stakeholders involved in planning and implementing relevant policies and programs.


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (17) ◽  
pp. 8849-8868 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Zhao ◽  
J. Zhang ◽  
C. P. Nielsen

Abstract. To examine the efficacy of China's actions to control atmospheric pollution, three levels of growth of energy consumption and three levels of implementation of emission controls are estimated, generating a total of nine combined activity-emission control scenarios that are then used to estimate trends of national emissions of primary air pollutants through 2030. The emission control strategies are expected to have more effects than the energy paths on the future emission trends for all the concerned pollutants. As recently promulgated national action plans of air pollution prevention and control (NAPAPPC) are implemented, China's anthropogenic pollutant emissions should decline. For example, the emissions of SO2, NOx, total suspended particles (TSP), PM10, and PM2.5 are estimated to decline 7, 20, 41, 34, and 31% from 2010 to 2030, respectively, in the "best guess" scenario that includes national commitment of energy saving policy and implementation of NAPAPPC. Should the issued/proposed emission standards be fully achieved, a less likely scenario, annual emissions would be further reduced, ranging from 17 (for primary PM2.5) to 29% (for NOx) declines in 2015, and the analogue numbers would be 12 and 24% in 2030. The uncertainties of emission projections result mainly from the uncertain operational conditions of swiftly proliferating air pollutant control devices and lack of detailed information about emission control plans by region. The predicted emission trends by sector and chemical species raise concerns about current pollution control strategies: the potential for emissions abatement in key sectors may be declining due to the near saturation of emission control devices use; risks of ecosystem acidification could rise because emissions of alkaline base cations may be declining faster than those of SO2; and radiative forcing could rise because emissions of positive-forcing carbonaceous aerosols may decline more slowly than those of SO2 emissions and thereby concentrations of negative-forcing sulfate particles. Expanded control of emissions of fine particles and carbonaceous aerosols from small industrial and residential sources is recommended, and a more comprehensive emission control strategy targeting a wider range of pollutants (volatile organic compounds, NH3 and CO, etc.) and taking account of more diverse environmental impacts is also urgently needed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gavin Sun ◽  
Glen Hazlewood ◽  
Sasha Bernatsky ◽  
Gilaad G. Kaplan ◽  
Bertus Eksteen ◽  
...  

Objective. Environmental risk factors, such as air pollution, have been studied in relation to the risk of development of rheumatic diseases. We performed a systematic literature review to summarize the existing knowledge.Methods. MEDLINE (1946 to September 2016) and EMBASE (1980 to 2016, week 37) databases were searched using MeSH terms and keywords to identify cohort, case-control, and case cross-over studies reporting risk estimates for the development of select rheumatic diseases in relation to exposure of measured air pollutants (n=8). We extracted information on the population sample and study period, method of case and exposure determination, and the estimate of association.Results. There was no consistent evidence of an increased risk for the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with exposure to NO2, SO2, PM2.5, or PM10. Case-control studies in systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs) indicated higher odds of diagnosis with increasing PM2.5exposure, as well as an increased relative risk for juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) in American children <5.5 years of age. There was no association with SARDs and NO2exposure.Conclusion. There is evidence for a possible association between air pollutant exposures and the development of SARDs and JIA, but relationships with other rheumatic diseases are less clear.


Author(s):  
Laura Goulier ◽  
Bastian Paas ◽  
Laura Ehrnsperger ◽  
Otto Klemm

Since operating urban air quality stations is not only time consuming but also costly, and because air pollutants can cause serious health problems, this paper presents the hourly prediction of ten air pollutant concentrations (CO2, NH3, NO, NO2, NOx, O3, PM1, PM2.5, PM10 and PN10) in a street canyon in Münster using an artificial neural network (ANN) approach. Special attention was paid to comparing three predictor options representing the traffic volume: we included acoustic sound measurements (sound), the total number of vehicles (traffic), and the hour of the day and the day of the week (time) as input variables and then compared their prediction powers. The models were trained, validated and tested to evaluate their performance. Results showed that the predictions of the gaseous air pollutants NO, NO2, NOx, and O3 reveal very good agreement with observations, whereas predictions for particle concentrations and NH3 were less successful, indicating that these models can be improved. All three input variable options (sound, traffic and time) proved to be suitable and showed distinct strengths for modelling various air pollutant concentrations.


Author(s):  
B. Yorkor ◽  
T. G. Leton ◽  
J. N. Ugbebor

This study investigated the temporal variations of air pollutant concentrations in Ogoni area, Niger Delta, Nigeria. The study used hourly data measured over 8 hours for 12 months at selected locations within the area. The analyses were based on time series and time variations techniques in Openair packages of R programming software. The variations of air pollutant concentrations by time of day and days of week were simulated. Hours of the day, days of the week and monthly variations were graphically simulated. Variations in the mean concentrations of air pollutants by time were determined at 95 % confidence intervals. Sulphur dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ground level Ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations exceeded permissible standards. Air pollutant concentrations showed increase in January, February, November and December compared to other months. Simulation showed that air pollutants varied significantly by hours-of-the-day and days-of-the-week and months-of-the-year. Analysis of temporal variability revealed that air pollutant concentrations increased during weekdays and decreased during weekends. The temporal variability of air pollutants in Ogoni area showed that anthropogenic activities were the main sources of air pollution in the area, therefore further studies are required to determine air pollutant dispersion pattern and evaluation the potential sources of air pollution in the area.


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