The impact of air pollution on hospitalization for COPD patients in China

Abstract

Background: With the rapid development of the global economy and the acceleration of urbanization, air pollution has become a major environmental problem threatening human health. There is limited evidence on the acute effects of air pollution on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods: From 2014 to 2019, we collected data on daily admissions for COPD patients from a city in China. We used the generalized additive model together with distributed lag models to fit the associations of air pollutants with hospital admissions. Results: We observed significant increments in the number of daily admissions (0.086–0.109%) for COPD for a unit range increase in air quality index, PM2:5 and PM10 over four lag days. The impact of air pollution on the number of daily admissions was mainly reflected in the COPD patients who were hospitalized through outpatient departments and tertiary hospitals. Discussion: Short-term exposure to outdoor air pollution may induce the occurrence or exacerbation of COPD patients; therefore, government departments should strengthen the management of air pollution, improve supervision and control mechanisms, pay attention to the quality of medical services, and reduce the adverse effects of air pollution on patients’ health.