Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 103, Number 3, March 1995

Air Pollution and Unscheduled Hospital Outpatient and Emergency Room Visits

Xiping Xu,¹ Baoluo Li,² and Huying Huang³

¹Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115 USA
²Beijing Union Medical College, Beijing, China
³Institute of Medical Information and Hospital Management of Beijing, Beijing, China

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Abstract
We conducted a time-series analysis of daily hospital visits and air pollution data to assess acute effects of air pollution on daily unscheduled outpatient visits to internal medicine, pediatric, and emergency departments in the No. 3 Affiliated Hospital of Beijing Medical University in Beijing, China. Sulfur dioxide was marginally significantly associated with total outpatient visits (ß = 41.5, SE = 24.2) and significantly associated with internal medicine (ß = 14.6, SE = 6.7), pediatric (ß = 12.7, SE = 3.7), and emergency room visits (ß = 6.8, SE = 2.7). Total suspended particulates (TSP) was a significant predictor for total outpatient (ß = 21.1, SE = 7.7) and pediatric visits (ß = 3.4, SE = 1.3) and a marginally significant predictor of internal medicine visits (ß = 4.2, SE = 2.2). In a season-specific analysis, SO₂ was a significant predictor for total hospital outpatient visits in summer, although the mean daily SO₂ concentration was only 17 µg/m³ (maximum = 51 µg/m³). In winter, SO₂ was significantly associated with internal medicine, pediatric, and emergency room visits, and TSP was associated with total outpatient visits. This study suggests an exposure-response relationship between TSP and SO₂ and hospital outpatient visits, both at high air pollution levels and at levels well below air quality standards recommended by the World Health Organization. Key words: emergency room visits, outpatient visits, sulfur dioxide, total suspended particulates. Environ Health Perspect 103:286-289 (1995)

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Address correspondence to X. Xu, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 655 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 USA.

Received 6 January 1994; accepted 19 August 1994.

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