Air pollution linked to spike in admissions for many conditions
With continuing air quality alerts for parts of NSW this week, a US study warns that brief exposure to the tiny particles known as PM2.5 can increase hospital admissions for a wide variety of conditions.
Harvard researchers used hospital data for US Medicare patients from 2000-12, examining the relationship between admissions for more than 200 conditions and air pollution — specifically the levels of particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter (PM2.5) — on the previous day.