DIFFERENT RESPONSE TO EXPOSURE TO AIR POLLUTANTS IN GIRLS AND BOYS

OBJECTIVE: Identify the association between exposure to fine particulate matter and hospitalizations due to respiratory diseases in children up to ten years of age in the city of Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, stratifying the analysis by sex and calculating excess costs. METHODS: Ecological study of time series. The dependent variable was daily hospitalizations according to the 10(th) Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD10): J04.0, J12.0 to J18.9, J20.0 to J21.9 and J45.0 to J45.0. The independent variables were the concentration of fine particulate, estimated by a mathematical model, temperature and relative air humidity, controlled by short and long-term trends. Generalized additive model of Poisson regression was used. Relative risks, proportional attributable risk (PAR) and excess hospitalizations and their respective costs by the population attributable fraction (PAF) were calculated. RESULTS: 1,165 children were hospitalized, 640 males and 525 females. The mean concentration, estimated by the mathematical model, was 15.1±2.9 mcg/m(3) for PM(2.5). For boys, there was no significant association; for girls a relative risk of up to 1.04 of daily hospitalizations due to respiratory diseases was observed for exposure to PM 2.5 in lags 1, 2 and 6. Increase of 5 µg/m(3) in these concentrations increased the percentage of the risk in 18%; with an excess 95 hospital admissions and with excess expenses in the order of US$ 35 thousand. CONCLUSIONS: Significant effect in daily hospitalizations due to respiratory diseases related to exposure to fine particulate matter was noted for girls, suggesting the need for stratification by sex in further studies.