A Study of Human Thermal Comfort, Ozone and Respiratory Diseases in Children

Abstract

Objective: To assess the impact of air pollution and ozone on morbidity due to respiratory diseases among children from 2005 to 2008. Methods: The database was composed by daily reports on visits by children with respiratory diseases in health units of the Unified Health System (SUS) in the municipality of Campo Grande, MS, Brazil, by daily levels of ozone concentration measured by the Department of Physics, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, and by daily measurements of temperature and relative humidity provided by the Agricultural Research Corporation-EMBRAPA Gado de Corte-MS. The relationship between respiratory diseases and ozone concentration was investigated through Generalized Linear Models (GLM) using the multiple Poisson regression model. The significance level α = 5% was adopted for all tests. Results: It was observed that the association between ozone (lagged by three time-steps) and attendance for respiratory diseases in children was statistically significant. The bio-meteorological variable Wind-adjusted Effective Temperature (lagged by four time-steps) was also significantly associated with diseases. Conclusions: The results suggest that the surface ozone concentration promotes adverse effects on children’s health even when pollutant levels are below the amounts permitted by law.