Asian dust storm elevates children's respiratory health risks: A spatiotemporal analysis of children's clinic visits across Taipei (Taiwan)
Journal
PLoS ONE
Journal Volume
7
Journal Issue
7
Date Issued
2012
Author(s)
Abstract
Concerns have been raised about the adverse impact of Asian dust storms (ADS) on human health; however, few studies have examined the effect of these events on children's health. Using databases from the Taiwan National Health Insurance and Taiwan Environmental Protection Agency, this study investigates the documented daily visits of children to respiratory clinics during and after ADS that occurred from 1997 to 2007 among 12 districts across Taipei City by applying a Bayesian structural additive regressive model controlled for spatial and temporal patterns. This study finds that the significantly impact of elevated children's respiratory clinic visits happened after ADS. Five of the seven lagged days had increasing percentages of relative rate, which was consecutively elevated from a 2-day to a 5-day lag by 0.63%~2.19% for preschool children (i.e., 0~6 years of age) and 0.72%~3.17% for school children (i.e., 7~14 years of age). The spatial pattern of clinic visits indicated that geographical heterogeneity was possibly associated with the clinic's location and accessibility. Moreover, day-of-week effects were elevated on Monday, Friday, and Saturday. We concluded that ADS may significantly increase the risks of respiratory diseases consecutively in the week after exposure, especially in school children. ? 2012 Yu et al.
SDGs
Other Subjects
article; Asian dust storm; Bayes theorem; child; child health care; consultation; controlled study; day hospital; dust and dust related phenomena; environmental exposure; geographic distribution; health hazard; high risk population; hospital; human; preschool child; respiratory tract disease; school child; spatiotemporal analysis; statistical analysis; Taiwan; Adolescent; Child; Cyclonic Storms; Dust; Environmental Exposure; Female; Humans; Male; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Risk Factors; Taiwan; Time Factors
Type
journal article