Temporal analysis of determinants for respiratory emergency department visits in a large German hospital

INTRODUCTION: Associations between air pollutants, meteorological conditions and respiratory diseases have been extensively shown. The aim of this study was to investigate associations between daily meteorological data, data on air pollution and emergency department (ED) visits depending on the day of the week, season and year (study period from 2013 to 2015). METHODS: Highly correlated environmental data entered a categorical principal components analysis (CATPCA). We analysed cross-correlation functions between the time series of the respective daily environmental factors and daily ED visits. Time lags with peak correlations of environmental variables obtained by the CATPCA on ED visits together with day of the week, year, running day (linear, quadratic and cubic), season and interaction terms entered the univariate analysis of variance (UNIANOVA) model. RESULTS: The analyses demonstrated main effects on ED visits for the day of the week with highest admission rates on Mondays (B=10.69; ƞ(2)=0.333; p<0.001). A significant time trend could be observed showing increasing numbers of ED visits per each year (p<0.001). The variable ‘running day’ (linear, quadratic and cubic) indicated a significant non-linear effect over time. The variable season showed significant results with winter, spring and summer recording fewer ED visits compared with the reference season autumn. Environmental variables showed no direct associations with respiratory ED visits. DISCUSSION: ED visits were significantly associated with temporal variables. Our data did not show direct associations between environmental variables and ED visits. In times of rapid urbanisation, increases in respiratory diseases, temperature and air pollution, our analyses can help focus future studies and enhance strategies to reduce increasing numbers of respiratory diseases and ED visits. Because the potential costs of medical care in hospitals can be high compared with physicians, public health recommendations for reducing the increasing ED visits should be promoted and evaluated.