Air Pollution And Children Respiratory Hospital Admissions In São Paulo By Sex

This study was designed to evaluate the relationship between exposure to air pollution and children hospitalizations in the public health system (Sistema Único de Saúde-SUS) due to respiratory diseases in the São Paulo city, from 2000 to 2012, stratified by sex. This is an ecological time series study. Daily records of PM10, CO, SO2, NO2, O3, minimum temperature and humidity average were obtained from the São Paulo State Environmental Agency (CETESB). Hospital admissions were obtained from SUS database. Generalized linear polynomial distributed lag model was used to assess the effect of pollutants on the outcome. In São Paulo, all primary pollutants were associated with the outcome. For instance, an interquartile range increase in PM10 (24.42 μg/m3) was associated with a 3.34% (95% CI: 2.35%-4.34%) increase in children respiratory admissions, 2.71% (95%CI: 1.32%-4.10%) for girls and a 3.72% (95% CI: 2.45%-4.98%) for boys, in the same day of exposure. An interquartile range increase of 7.48 μg/m3 in SO2 it was associated with a 2.06% (IC 95%: 1.06% –3.06%) increase in children respiratory admissions, a 1.80% (95%CI: 0.40%-3.17%) for girls and 1.95% (95%CI: 0.68%-3.22%) for boys. For NO2, an interquartile range (51.89 μg/m3) increases in 2.44% (95%CI: 1.50%-3.79%) children total respiratory admissions, a 1.52% (95%CI: 0.22%-2.82%) for girls, and a 3.22% (95%CI: 2.04%-4.40%) for boys. An interquartile range increase in O3 (52.17 μg/m3) was associated with a 1.30% (95%CI: 0.43%-2.17%) increase in children respiratory admissions, 1.53% (95%CI: 0.32%-2.74%) for girls, and 1.26% (95%CI: 0.16%-2.36%) for boys. The automotive fleet predominantly generates air pollution in São Paulo affect the children´s health, besides the pollution was above the air standard quality.