The Air Quality Health Index and Asthma Morbidity: A Population-Based Study

The Air Quality Health Index and Asthma Morbidity: A Population-Based Study
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/2012/10/the-air-quality-health-index-and-asthma-morbidity-a-population-based-study/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-air-quality-health-index-and-asthma-morbidity-a-population-based-study

Citation: Teresa To, Shen S, Atenafu EG, Guan J, McLimont S, Stocks B, Licskai C. The Air Quality Health Index and Asthma Morbidity: A Population-Based Study. Environ Health Perspect (): .doi:10.1289/ehp.1104816
Received: December 4, 2011; Accepted: October 10, 2012; Published: October 10, 2012

 

Abstract

Background: Exposure to air pollution has been linked to the exacerbation of respiratory diseases. The Air Quality Health Index (AQHI), developed in Canada, is a new health risk scale for reporting air quality and advising risk reduction actions.

Objective: We used the AQHI to estimate the impact of air quality on asthma morbidity adjusting for potential confounders.
Methods: Daily air pollutant measures were obtained from 14 regional monitoring stations in Ontario. Daily counts of asthma-attributed hospitalizations, emergency department (ED) visits, and outpatient visits were obtained from a provincial registry of 1.5 million individuals with asthma. Poisson regression was used to estimate health services rate ratios (RR) as a measure of association between the AQHI or individual pollutants and health services use. We adjusted for age, sex, season, year, and region of residence.

Results: The AQHI was significantly associated with increased use of asthma health services on the same day and on the two following days, depending on the specific outcome assessed. A unit increase in the AQHI was associated with a 5.6% increase in asthma outpatient visits (RR=1.056; 95% CI: 1.053, 1.058) and a 2.1% increase in the rate of hospitalization (RR=1.021; 95% CI: 1.014, 1.028) on the same day, and with a 1.3% increase in the rate of ED visits (RR=1.013; 95% CI: 1.010, 1.017) after a 2-day lag.

Conclusions: The AQHI was significantly associated with the use of asthma related health services. Timely AQHI health risk advisories with integrated risk reduction messages may reduce morbidity associated with air pollution in individuals with asthma.

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Altering the Primal Environment: Health Effects Associated with Assisted Reproductive Technologies
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/2012/10/altering-the-primal-environment-health-effects-associated-with-assisted-reproductive-technologies/

"When Darine El-Chaar began her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Ottawa five years ago, she grew curious about the potential health repercussions of assisted reproductive technologies (ART), the catchall term for procedures used to help couples artificially conceive a child. ART involves surgically removing eggs from a woman's ovaries, combining them with sperm in the laboratory, and returning them to the womb.1 Women undergoing ART take "fertility drugs" such as clomiphene citrate and gonadotropins to stimulate the production of many eggs rather than the single egg that would normally grow during their monthly menstrual cycle.2"

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BPA Exposure Impacts Pregnant Women's Thyroids, Study Suggests

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_129930.html

"Widely used chemical linked to lower levels of hormone in newborn boys, but not girls"

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http://www.sfgate.com/green/article/Report-links-pesticides-and-child-illness-3933168.php

"Pesticides pervade the environment, from the air we breathe to the food we eat, and they are making children sicker than they were a generation ago, a new report warns."

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http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/ADHD-ADD/35206

 

"Prenatal exposure to mercury through maternal fish consumption was associated with attention-deficit and hyperactivity behaviors in children, yet fish in the mother's diet also appeared to be neuroprotective, a population-based study suggested."

 

 

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http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Why_Glyphosate_Should_be_Banned.php

 

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The Anatomy of Hope | CFIDS & Fibromyalgia Self-Help

The Anatomy of Hope | CFIDS & Fibromyalgia Self-Help

http://www.cfidsselfhelp.org/library/the-anatomy-hope

[COMMENT:  The CFIDS and fibromyalgia self-help page has an excellent discussion of unrealistic hope and how it can be damaging, and also how realistic hope combines acceptance with hope and "takes into account the real threats that exist and seeks to navigate the best path around them. To have hope is to "acquire a belief in your ability to have some control over your circumstances."" When a challenge comes up, find a work around. If shopping isn't possible any longer due to MCS reactions, there is no reason to lose hope. It just requires a different approach than was used before the onset of MCS. There are stores that deliver, online shopping, family and friends who may be willing to help, and people who would jump at the chance of a part-time job shopping for a small amount of extra income. Acceptance and hope combined allow problem solving to occur.]

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