Abstract
Air pollution and climate change may significantly affect human respiratory health outcomes by aggravating allergic rhinitis and asthma. Previous studies have demonstrated that increased exposure durations for molds are linked to climate change. The purpose of this study is to examine how molds and other air pollutants are associated with asthma emergency room (ER) visits for children in a large county in the state of Georgia, United States, under a subtropical climate. The air pollutants of interest included mold, ozone (O3), sulfur dioxide (SO2), particulate matter (PM2.5, PM10), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Time-series plots were obtained to demonstrate the trend in the ten-day summation of children Asthma ER visits, variation in mold levels characterized as low, moderate, high, and extremely high, the ten-day averages of maximum 8-hour O3(ppm), maximum 1-hour SO2(ppb), PM2.5(μg/m3), PM10(μg/m3), and maximum 1-hour NO2(ppb) concentrations. All time-series plots were obtained for the months between 2018 and 2019. The Box-Jenkins method was used for further analysis. Between 2018 and 2019, there were a total of 7,058 children Asthma ER visits. O3, PM10, and NO2 were correlated with the daily children Asthma ER visit counts. Statistically significant associations were identified between children Asthma ER visits and the extremely high mold level category, O3, PM10, and NO2. We can infer that the extremely high mold level category, O3, PM10, and NO2 are key explanatory factors for the trend in children Asthma ER visits in the subtropical climatic conditions in Georgia, between 2018-2019.
Presenters
Emmanuela NwaonumahStudent, DrPH, Georgia Southern University , Georgia, United States Jingjing Yin
Associate Professor, BEES, Georgia Southern University, Georgia, United States Atin Adhikari
Associate Professor, Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health, Georgia Southern University, Georgia, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
Assessing Impacts in Diverse Ecosystems
KEYWORDS
ASTHMA, ALLERGIC RHINITIS, AIR POLLUTANTS, MOLD, SUBTROPICAL CLIMATE
