Ambient Ozone Concentrations Cause Increased Hospitalizations for Asthma in Children: An 18-Year Study in Southern California

BACKGROUND: Asthma is the most important chronic disease of childhood. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has concluded that children with asthma continue to be susceptible to ozone-associated adverse effects on their disease. OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to evaluate time trends in associations between declining warm-season O(3) concentrations and hospitalization for asthma in children. METHODS: We undertook an ecologic study of hospital discharges for asthma during the high O(3) seasons in California’s South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB) in children who ranged in age from birth to 19 years from 1983 to 2000. We used standard association and causal statistical analysis methods. Hospital discharge data were obtained from the State of California; air pollution data were obtained from the California Air Resources Board, and demographic data from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 U.S. Census. SoCAB was divided into 195 spatial grids, and quarterly average O(3), sulfurdioxide, particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 μm, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide were assigned to each unit for 3-month periods along with demographic variables. RESULTS: O(3) was the only pollutant associated with increased hospital admissions over the study period. Inclusion of a variety of demographic and weather variables accounted for all of the non-O(3) temporal changes in hospitalizations. We found a time-independent, constant effect of ambient levels of O(3) and quarterly hospital discharge rates for asthma. We estimate that the average effect of a 10-ppb mean increase in any given mean quarterly 1-hr maximum O(3) over the 18-year median of 87.7 ppb was a 4.6% increase in the same quarterly outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that at current levels of O(3) experienced in Southern California, O(3) contributes to an increased risk of hospitalization for children with asthma.