Air pollution and its impacts on health in Vitoria, Espirito Santo, Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the impact of air pollution on respiratory and cardiovascular morbidity of children and adults in the city of Vitoria, state of Espirito Santo. METHODS: A study was carried out using time-series models via Poisson regression from hospitalization and pollutant data in Vitoria, ES, Southeastern Brazil, from 2001 to 2006. Fine particulate matter (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and ozone (O-3) were tested as independent variables in simple and cumulative lags of up to five days. Temperature, humidity and variables indicating weekdays and city holidays were added as control variables in the models. RESULTS: For each increment of 10 mu g/m(3) of the pollutants PM10, SO2, and O-3, the percentage of relative risk (%RR) for hospitalizations due to total respiratory diseases increased 9.67 (95%CI 11.84-7.54), 6.98 (95%CI 9.98-4.17) and 1.93 (95%CI 2.95-0.93), respectively. We found %RR = 6.60 (95%CI 9.53-3.75), %RR = 5.19 (95%CI 9.01-1.5), and %RR = 3.68 (95%CI 5.07-2.31) for respiratory diseases in children under the age of five years for PM10, SO2, and O-3, respectively. Cardiovascular diseases showed a significant relationship with O-3, with %RR = 2.11 (95%CI 3.18-1.06). CONCLUSIONS: Respiratory diseases presented a stronger and more consistent relationship with the pollutants researched in Vitoria. A better dose-response relationship was observed when using cumulative lags in polynomial distributed lag models.