Effects of nitrogen dioxide and meteorological conditions on the number of patients presenting to emergency department.

In recent years, there is ever more awareness about the impact of polluted air on the incidence of acute and chronic cardiac disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation of certain meteorological factors, NO2 concentration in the air and number of patients presenting to Emergency Department of Internal Medicine, Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital Center (ED), during a two-year period, with special reference to the incidence of patients with a cardiac referral diagnosis according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). The total number of patients was 44,245, of which 12,946 with a cardiac referral diagnosis.