Respiratory diseases are positively associated with PM2.5 concentrations in different areas of Taiwan

Feifei Wang; Tianyi Chen; Qian Chang; Yi-Wei Kao; Jian Li; Mingchih Chen; Yang Li; Ben-Chang Shia

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0249694

Respiratory diseases are positively associated with PM2.5 concentrations in different areas of Taiwan

PLoS One. 2021 Apr 22;16(4):e0249694. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249694. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Feifei Wang^{1

2}, Tianyi Chen², Qian Chang², Yi-Wei Kao³, Jian Li³, Mingchih Chen³, Yang Li^{1

2}, Ben-Chang Shia³

Affiliations

¹ Center for Applied Statistics, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China.
² School of Statistics, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China.
³ College of Management, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Abstract

The health effects associated with fine particulate matter (PM2.5) have attracted considerable public attention in recent decades. It has been verified that PM2.5 can damage the respiratory and cardiovascular systems and cause various diseases. While the association between diseases and PM2.5 has been widely studied, this work aims to analyze the association between PM2.5 and hospital visit rates for respiratory diseases in Taiwan. To this end, a disease mapping model that considers spatial effects is applied to estimate the association. The results show that there is a positive association between hospital visit rates and the PM2.5 concentrations in the Taiwanese population in 2012 after controlling for other variables, such as smoking rates and the number of hospitals in each region. This finding indicates that control of PM2.5 could decrease hospital visit rates for respiratory diseases in Taiwan.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants / adverse effects
Air Pollutants / analysis*
Air Pollution / adverse effects
Air Pollution / analysis*
Hospitalization / statistics & numerical data
Humans
Models, Statistical
Particulate Matter / adverse effects
Particulate Matter / analysis*
Respiration Disorders / epidemiology*
Respiration Disorders / etiology
Respiration Disorders / pathology
Risk Factors
Taiwan / epidemiology

Substances

Air Pollutants
Particulate Matter

Grants and funding

YL was supported by the Research Funds for the Major Innovation Platform of Public Health & Disease Control and Prevention, Renmin University of China, 0001.