Effect of Air Pollution on Exacerbations of Bronchiectasis in Badalona, Spain, 2008-2016.

Introduction: Air pollution has been widely associated with respiratory diseases. Nevertheless, the association between air pollution and exacerbations of bronchiectasis has been less studied.

Objective: To analyze the effect of air pollution on exacerbations of bronchiectasis.

Methods: This was a retrospective observational study conducted in Badalona. The number of daily hospital admissions and emergency room visits related to exacerbation of bronchiectasis (ICD-9 code 494.1) between 2008 and 2016 was obtained. We used simple Poisson regressions to test the effects of daily mean temperature, SO2, NO2, CO, and PM10 levels on bronchiectasis-related emergencies and hospitalizations on the same day and 1-4 days after. All p values were corrected for multiple comparisons.

Results: SO2 was significantly associated with an increase in the number of hospitalizations (lags 0, 1, 2, and 3). None of these associations remained significant after correcting for multiple comparisons. The number of emergency room visits was associated with higher levels of SO2 (lags 0-4). After correcting for multiple comparisons, the association between emergency room visits and SO2 levels was statistically significant for lag 0 (p = 0.043), lag 1 (p = 0.018), and lag 3 (p = 0.050).

Conclusions: The number of emergency room visits for exacerbation of bronchiectasis is associated with higher levels of SO2.