The influence of air pollutants on BA patients’ demand for emergency care in Saratov

Abstract

Based in Saratov, a major industrial city, the present study compares the number of ambulance calls by bronchial asthmatic patients in cold and warm seasons, and estimates respective peak and daily average concentrations of dust, nitrogen and sulphur dioxides, carbon monoxide, ammonia, phenol and formaldehyde in the city atmosphere to evaluate the pathogenic role of air pollution.
Sulphur dioxide and phenol in industrial smog were established as the main BA pathogenes in wintertime, with their concentration and the number of ambulance calls correlated as 0.4069 and 0.3648.
Summer revealed the strongest pathogenic influence of nitrogen dioxide (r=0.5810) as principal componentof photochemical smog.
Emphasis must be laid on monitoring the concentrations of sulphur dioxide and phenol in winter, and nitrogen dioxide in summer to improve preventive treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. Health services, ambulance stations included, need exhaustive and regular information on environmental situations and the impact and concentrations of air pollutants.