Association between the concentration of fine particles in the atmosphere and acute respiratory diseases in children

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the association between fine particulate matter concentration in the atmosphere and hospital care by acute respiratory diseases in children. METHODS: Ecological study, carried out in the region of Grande Vitória, Espírito Santo, in the winter (June 21 to September 21, 2013) and summer (December 21, 2013 to March 19, 2014). We assessed data of daily count for outpatient care and hospitalization by respiratory diseases (ICD-10) in children from zero to 12 years in three hospitals in the Region of Grande Vitória. For collecting fine particulate matter, we used portable samplers of particles installed in six locations in the studied region. The Generalized Additive Model with Poisson distribution, fitted for the effects of predictor covariates, was used to evaluate the relationship between respiratory outcomes and concentration of fine particulate matter. RESULTS: The increase of 4.2 µg/m(3) (interquartile range) in the concentration of fine particulate matter increased in 3.8% and 5.6% the risk of medical care or hospitalization, respectively, on the same day and with six-day lag from the exposure. CONCLUSIONS: We identified positive association between outpatient care and hospitalizations of children under 12 years due to acute respiratory diseases and the concentration of fine particulate matter in the atmosphere.