Air pollution and emergency room visits for cardiac arrhythmia in a subtropical city: Taipei, Taiwan

Abstract

This study was undertaken to determine whether there was an association between air pollutant levels and emergency room (ER) visits for cardiac arrhythmia in Taipei, Taiwan. ER visits for cardiac arrhythmia and ambient air pollution data for Taipei were obtained for the period 2000–2006. The relative risk of ER visits was estimated using a case-crossover approach, controlling for weather variables, day of the week, seasonality, and long-term time trends. In the single-pollutant model, on warm days (≥23°C), statistically significant positive associations were found for all pollutants except SO₂. On cool days (<23°C), all pollutants were also significantly associated with the number of ER visits for cardiac arrhythmia, except SO₂. For the two-pollutant model, results for O₃ and NO₂ remained statistically significant on both warm and cool days. This study provides evidence that higher levels of ambient air pollutants increase the risk of ER visits for cardiac arrhythmia.

Keywords::

• Air pollution
• cardiac arrhythmia
• case-crossover
• emergency room visits

Acknowledgements

Declaration of interest: This study was partly supported by a grant from the National Science Council, Executive Yuan, Taiwan (NSC-95-2314-B-037-070-MY2). The study is based in part on data from the National Insurance Research Database provided by the Bureau of National Health Insurance and Department of Health, and managed by National Health Research Institutes. The interpretation and conclusions contained herein do not represent those of the Bureau of National Health Insurance, Department of Health, or National Health Research Institutes. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.