Air pollution, weather and positive airway pressure treatment adherence in adults with sleep apnea: a retrospective community-based repeated-measures longitudinal study.

We assessed the relation between air pollution, weather, and adherence to positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy in a retrospective community-based repeated-measures study of adults with obstructive sleep apnea who purchased PAP devices from a registered provider between 2013 and 2017 (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) and had at least one day of data. Daily PAP-derived data, air pollution, and weather databases were linked using postal code. The exposures were mean nocturnal (8:00 p.

Air Pollution and the Effectiveness of Positive Airway Pressure Therapy in Individuals With Sleep Apnea: A Retrospective Community-Based Repeated-Measures Longitudinal Study.

Background: Ambient air pollution may affect the severity of untreated OSA, but it is unknown whether air pollution adversely impacts the effectiveness of positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy.

Research Question: Do short-term changes in outdoor air pollution adversely impact adults with OSA using PAP therapy?

Study Design And Methods: We conducted a retrospective community-based repeated-measures longitudinal study of adults with OSA who purchased a PAP device from a registered equipment provider between 2013 and 2017 (Ontario, Canada) and had data on the daily device-derived residual apnea-hypopnea index (AHI). We linked daily PAP-derived data to air pollution databases using postal codes.

Concentration-Response Functions as an Essence of the Results from Lags.

Among various aspects of environmental epidemiology, one is to assess the relationships between ambient air pollution and health outcomes. The goal of this work is to estimate the associations in the form of the parametric concentration-response functions (C-RF). Various forms of the C-RFs are proposed in this short-term health effect study.

Urban air pollution and emergency department visits related to central nervous system diseases.

Ambient air pollution has been associated with adverse neurological health outcomes. Ambient pollutants are thought to trigger oxidative stress and inflammation to which vulnerable populations, such as elderly may be particularly susceptible. Our study investigated the possible association between concentrations of ambient air pollutants and the number of emergency department (ED) visits for nervous system disorders among people residing in a large Canadian city.

Urban Air Pollution and Emergency Department Visits for Neoplasms and Outcomes of Blood Forming and Metabolic Systems.

This study focused on investigating possible associations between exposure to urban air pollution and the number of emergency department (ED) visits for various health outcomes. The outcomes were grouped into four chapters of the International Classification of Diseases Tenth Revision (ICD-10) system (i.e.

Air Pollution and Emergency Department Visits for Disease of the Genitourinary System.

The aim of this study is to determine associations between ambient air pollution and the number of emergency department (ED) visits for diseases of the genitourinary tract in Toronto, Canada. We used the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS) database to obtain the related ED visits and developed statistical models using daily data on ED visits, temperature, relative humidity, and outdoor air pollution concentration levels. The NACRS database contains data on hospital-based and community-based ambulatory care.

Ambient air pollution and emergency department visits in Toronto, Canada.

To investigate the acute impact of various air pollutants on various disease groups in the urban area of the city of Toronto, Canada. Statistical models were developed to estimate the relative risk of an emergency department visit associated with ambient air pollution concentration levels. These models were generated for 8 air pollutants (lagged from 0 to 14 days) and for 18 strata (based on sex, age group, and season).

Do acute changes in ambient air pollution increase the risk of potentially fatal cardiac arrhythmias in patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators?

Background: Daily changes in ambient air pollution have been associated with cardiac morbidity and mortality. Precipitating a cardiac arrhythmia in susceptible individuals may be one mechanism. We investigated the influence of daily changes in air pollution in the Province of Ontario, Canada on the frequency of discharges from implantable cardio defibrillators (ICDs) which occur in response to potentially life threatening arrhythmias.

Air Pollution and Emergency Department Visits for Mental Disorders among Youth.

Although exposure to ambient air pollution has been linked to mental health problems, little is known about its potential effects on youth. This study investigates the association between short-term exposure to air pollutants and emergency department (ED) visits for mental health disorders. The National Ambulatory Care Reporting System database was used to retrieve ED visits for young individuals aged 8-24 years in Toronto, Canada.

Case-Crossover Method with a Short Time-Window.

Numerous epidemiological studies have shown associations between short-term ambient air pollution exposure and various health problems. The time-stratified case-crossover design is a popular technique for estimating these associations. In the standard approach, the case-crossover model is realized by using a conditional logistic regression on data that are interpreted as a set of cases (i.

Associations between air pollution and cardio-respiratory physiological measures in older adults exercising outdoors.

We examined whether exercising indoors vs. outdoors reduced the cardio-respiratory effects of outdoor air pollution. Adults ≥55 were randomly assigned to exercise indoors when the Air Quality Health Index was ≥5 and outdoors on other days (intervention group, n = 37), or outdoors everyday (control group, n = 35).

The Air Quality Health Index and all emergency department visits.

Through a variety of media formats, the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) has served as a valuable communication tool for the general Canadian population for several years. This index, calculated and communicated to the public on an hourly basis, is designed to provide important information on the impact of air quality on health. This presentation outlines the association between AQHI values and, for the first time, all-cause emergency department (ED) visits (over one million diagnosed ED visits).

Metals and oxidative potential in urban particulate matter influence systemic inflammatory and neural biomarkers: A controlled exposure study.

Background: Oxidative stress and inflammation are considered to be important pathways leading to particulate matter (PM)-associated disease. In this exploratory study, we examined the effects of metals and oxidative potential (OP) in urban PM on biomarkers of systemic inflammation, oxidative stress and neural function.

Methods: Fifty-three healthy non-smoking volunteers (mean age 28 years, twenty-eight females) were exposed to coarse (2.

Global estimates of mortality associated with long-term exposure to outdoor fine particulate matter.

Exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM) is a major global health concern. Quantitative estimates of attributable mortality are based on disease-specific hazard ratio models that incorporate risk information from multiple PM sources (outdoor and indoor air pollution from use of solid fuels and secondhand and active smoking), requiring assumptions about equivalent exposure and toxicity. We relax these contentious assumptions by constructing a PM-mortality hazard ratio function based only on cohort studies of outdoor air pollution that covers the global exposure range.

Cardiorespiratory Effects of Air Pollution in a Panel Study of Winter Outdoor Physical Activity in Older Adults.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess cardiorespiratory effects of air pollution in older adults exercising outdoors in winter.

Methods: Adults 55 years of age and older completed daily measurements of blood pressure, peak expiratory flow and oximetry, and weekly measurements of heart rate variability, endothelial function, spirometry, fraction of exhaled nitric oxide and urinary oxidative stress markers, before and after outdoor exercise, for 10 weeks. Data were analyzed using linear mixed effect models.

Air pollution and emergency department visits for respiratory diseases: A multi-city case crossover study.

Increasing evidence suggests that ambient air pollution is a major risk factor for both acute and chronic respiratory disease exacerbations and emergencies. The objective of this study was to determine the association between ambient air pollutants and emergency department (ED) visits for respiratory conditions in nine districts across the province of Ontario in Canada. Health, air pollutant (PM, NO, O, and SO), and meteorological data were retrieved from April 2004 to December 2011.

Cardio-Respiratory Effects of Air Pollution in a Panel Study of Outdoor Physical Activity and Health in Rural Older Adults.

Objective: To examine cardio-respiratory effects of air pollution in rural older adults exercising outdoors.

Methods: Adults 55 and over completed measurements of blood pressure, peak expiratory flow and oximetry daily, and of heart rate variability, endothelial function, spirometry, fraction of exhaled nitric oxide and urinary oxidative stress markers weekly, before and after outdoor exercise, for 10 weeks. Data were analyzed using linear mixed effect models.

Influence of exposure to coarse, fine and ultrafine urban particulate matter and their biological constituents on neural biomarkers in a randomized controlled crossover study.

Background: Epidemiological studies have reported associations between air pollution and neuro-psychological conditions. Biological mechanisms behind these findings are still not clear.

Objectives: We examined changes in blood and urinary neural biomarkers following exposure to concentrated ambient coarse, fine and ultrafine particles.

A class of non-linear exposure-response models suitable for health impact assessment applicable to large cohort studies of ambient air pollution.

The effectiveness of regulatory actions designed to improve air quality is often assessed by predicting changes in public health resulting from their implementation. Risk of premature mortality from long-term exposure to ambient air pollution is the single most important contributor to such assessments and is estimated from observational studies generally assuming a log-linear, no-threshold association between ambient concentrations and death. There has been only limited assessment of this assumption in part because of a lack of methods to estimate the shape of the exposure-response function in very large study populations.

Air Pollution and Emergency Department Visits for Depression: A Multicity Case-Crossover Study.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between ambient air pollution and emergency department (ED) visits for depression.

Methods: Health data were retrieved from the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System. ED visits for depression were retrieved from the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System using the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), Tenth revision codes; ICD-10: F32 (mild depressive episode) and ICD-10: F33 (recurrent depressive disorder).

The use of chained two-point clusters for the examination of associations of air pollution with health conditions.

Objectives: There are a few accepted and intensively applied statistical methods used to study associations of ambient air pollution with health conditions. Among the most popular methods applied to assess short term air health effects are case-crossover (using events) and time-series methodologies (using counts). A few other techniques for studying counts of events have been proposed, including the Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM).

UNMIX Methods Applied to Characterize Sources of Volatile Organic Compounds in Toronto, Ontario.

UNMIX, a sensor modeling routine from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was used to model volatile organic compound (VOC) receptors in four urban sites in Toronto, Ontario.

Air pollution and emergency department visits for conjunctivitis: A case-crossover study.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between emergency department (ED) visits for conjunctivitis and ambient air pollution levels in urban regions across the province of Ontario, Canada.

Material And Methods: Information from the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System was used to create time-series records, for the period of April 2004 to December 2011, on emergency department visits of patients suffering from conjunctivitis. A total of 77 439 emergency department visits for conjunctivitis were analyzed.

An approach to represent a combined exposure to air pollution.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to present a technique for estimating the effect of ambient air pollution mix on health outcomes.

Material And Methods: We created a technique of indexing air pollution mix as a cause of the increased odds of health problems. As an illustrative example, we analyzed the impact of pollution on the frequency of emergency department (ED) visits due to colitis among young patients (age < 15 years, N = 11 110).