Impact of urban air pollutants and noise levels over daily hospital admissions in children in Madrid: a time series analysis

Objective: The aim of this paper was to analyse the effects of the urban air pollutants and noise levels on daily emergency hospital admissions of children less than 10 years of age in Madrid. Material and methods: Poisson Regression Models were used to quantify the associations. Meteorological variables, influenza epidemics, pollen concentrations and trends and periodicities were used as controlling variables. Results: The main results obtained were the detected relationship (p<0.05) between emergency hospital admissions due to organic diseases and noise levels (AR=2.4%) and for PM10 concentrations (AR=2.1%). For respiratory diseases statistically significant associations were detected for noise levels (AR=4.7%) and cold temperatures (AR=3.8%). The main association detected for causes of admissions due to bronchitis was for O3 (AR=36.8%) and for pneumonia was for noise levels (AR=7.7%). Conclusion: The results obtained suggest that noise level particularly is a risk factor for daily emergency hospital admissions for organic and respiratory diseases in children less than 10 years old in Madrid.

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