Hospital Admissions Go Up with Rise in Ozone
A very large case-crossover study of Medicare recipients in of 36 U.S. cities evaluated the effect of ozone and PM10 on respiratory hospital admissions over a 13-year period.
The study found that the risk of daily hospital admissions for COPD and pneumonia increased with short-term increases in ozone concentrations during the warm season, but not during the cold season.
Medina-Ramón M, Zanobetti A, Schwartz J. The Effect of Ozone and PM10 on Hospital Admissions for Pneumonia and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A National Multicity Study. American Journal of Epidemiology 2006;DOI:10.1093/aje/kwj078.
The abstract is available online.
