Meteorological variables and air pollution and their association with hospitalizations due to respiratory diseases in children: a case study in São Paulo, Brazil

Urban climate changes, excessive air pollution, and increasing social inequalities have become determinant factors in the high risk of hospitalizations due to respiratory diseases. The current study thus aimed to understand how meteorological factors (air temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation) and air pollution (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 10µm - PM₁₀) are related to hospitalizations due to respiratory diseases in children in 14 districts in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The combination of generalized linear models with a negative binomial distribution and distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) were used as the statistical method to analyze the relationship between hospitalizations, climatic factors, and pollution from 2003 to 2013. The results show statistically significant association with high relative risk between mean air temperature (17.5ºC to 21ºC, for the total analyzed), relative humidity (84% to 98% for females), precipitation (0mm to 2.3mm for the total and both sexes and > 120mm for females), and PM₁₀ (> 35µg/m³ for the total and for females). These results showed that environmental factors contribute to the high risk of hospitalizations.

Keywords:
Respiratory Tract Diseases; Air Pollution; Atmospheric Preciptation; Humidity; Temperature