%0 Journal Article %A Kadri Meister %A Bertil Forsberg %T Estimated short-term effects of air pollutants on daily respiratory emergency department visits in three Swedish cities %D 2012 %J European Respiratory Journal %P P3388 %V 40 %N Suppl 56 %X Large number of epidemiological studies has found associations between daily changes in ambient particulate air pollution and different kinds of health outcomes. Our aim was to estimate the short-term effects of different air pollutants on daily emergency department visits for respiratory diagnoses in three largest cities in Sweden to find the effects in different environments. Data on daily number of visits from 2001 through 2008 in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö were collected from the national Patient Register and data on daily air pollution concentrations (PM10, NOx and Ozone and when available, PM2.5) from the local environmental agencies. In addition to visits for all respiratory causes focus was on visits for asthma (ICD10: J45-J46) and on associations between air pollution and daily visits in different age classes. Data was analysed using additative Poisson regression models to examine the association between daily visits and the average levels of air pollutants on the day of visit and the day before (lag01). For each city a statistical model was constructed for each health outcome and also for each age class. For example, a Stockholm model adjusted for the time trend, temperature, relative humidity, birch pollen levels, day of week and public holidays gives an increase of 2% (95 % CI 0.5 to 3.6%) in daily visits for asthma for all ages per 10 µg/m3 increase in PM10. The estimated effect for children is 2.5% (95 % CI 0.7 to 4.4%) and for elderly 4.9% (95 % CI 1.1 to 8.8%), respectively. In this study we have found associations between relatively low daily levels of air pollutants and emergency department visits for respiratory diagnoses. %U https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/erj/40/Suppl_56/P3388.full.pdf