Association between respiratory diseases mortality and ambient air pollution in Songjiang District of Shanghai

ObjectiveTo investigate the association between atmospheric pollutants as PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂ and respiratory diseases mortality.

MethodsBy summarizing air pollution data from 2011 to 2012 in Songjiang District of Shanghai and collecting all death cases of respiratory system, was adopted the time -stratified case crossover approach for analysis on the relationship between air pollution and respiratory mortality. And the excess risk of death was also analyzed in groups of different age and sex.

ResultsRespiratory mortality was found to be significantly associated with air pollutants as SO₂ and NO₂. The OR of respiratory mortality for NO₂ is 1.061(1.000, 1.126) at the time point of Lag0 for every 10 μg/m³ increase. For an increase of 10 μg/m³ for NO₂, OR of respiratory mortality for male was 1.109(1.031, 1.194) at the time point of Lag0, which was substantially higher than that for female.

ConclusionThis study provides new evidence for the association between exposure to ambient air pollution and respiratory mortality. Our results also suggest that males may face more risks than females in respiratory mortality in relation to NO₂ exposure.