The Effects of Air Quality on Hospital Admissions for Chronic Respiratory Diseases in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, 2013–2015



Morrissey, Karyn, Chung, Ivy, Morse, Andrew ORCID: 0000-0002-0413-2065, Parthasarath, Suhanya, Roebuck, Margaret ORCID: 0000-0002-1193-5149, Tan, Maw, Wood, Amanda, Wong, Pooi-fong and Frostick, Simon
(2021) The Effects of Air Quality on Hospital Admissions for Chronic Respiratory Diseases in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, 2013–2015. Atmosphere, 12 (8). p. 1060.

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Abstract

<jats:p>This study assesses the impact of a decrease in air quality and the risk of hospital admissions to a public hospital for chronic respiratory diseases for residents of Petaling Jaya, a city in the Greater Kuala Lumpur area in Malaysia. Data on hospital admissions for asthma, bronchitis, emphysema and other chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, weather conditions and the Malaysian Air Pollution Index, a composite indicator of air quality, were collated. An unconstrained distributed lag model to obtain risk of hospitalization for a 10 μg/m3 increase in the API. The lag cumulative effect for a 10 μg/m3 increase in the API was calculated to test for harvesting in the short term. Findings indicate that after an initial decrease in admissions (days 3 and 4), admissions increased again at day 7 and 8 and this relationship was significant. We therefore conclude that a 10 μg/m3 increase has a greater effect on admissions for respiratory health in the short term than a harvesting effect alone would suggest. These results suggest that while air quality is improving in the Greater Kuala Lumpur area, no level of air pollution can be deemed safe.</jats:p>

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: air pollution, chronic respiratory disease, hospital admissions, urban poor, Malaysia
Divisions: Faculty of Science and Engineering > School of Environmental Sciences
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 20 Aug 2021 10:02
Last Modified: 15 Mar 2024 06:19
DOI: 10.3390/atmos12081060
Open Access URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/8/1060
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URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3134126