Charles Darwin University

CDU eSpace
Institutional Repository

 
CDU Staff and Student only
 

Ambient biomass smoke and cardio-respiratory hospital admissions in Darwin, Australia

Johnston, Fay H., Bailie, Ross S., Pilotto, Louis S. and Hanigan, Ivan C. (2007). Ambient biomass smoke and cardio-respiratory hospital admissions in Darwin, Australia. BMC Public Health,7(1):240-247.

Document type: Journal Article
Citation counts: Scopus Citation Count Cited 34 times in Scopus Article | Citations
Altmetric Score Altmetric Score is 18
Google Scholar Search Google Scholar
Attached Files (Some files may be inaccessible until you login with your CDU eSpace credentials)
Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads
Download this reading Johnston_24374.pdf Published version application/pdf 284.69KB 247
Reading the attached file works best in Firefox, Chrome and IE 9 or later.

Title Ambient biomass smoke and cardio-respiratory hospital admissions in Darwin, Australia
Author Johnston, Fay H.
Bailie, Ross S.
Pilotto, Louis S.
Hanigan, Ivan C.
Journal Name BMC Public Health
Publication Date 2007
Volume Number 7
Issue Number 1
ISSN 14712458   (check CDU catalogue open catalogue search in new window)
Scopus ID 2-s2.0-38849093360
Start Page 240
End Page 247
Total Pages 8
Place of Publication London, U.K
Publisher BioMed Central Ltd.
Abstract Background:
Increasing severe vegetation fires worldwide has been attributed to both global environmental change and land management practices. However there is little evidence concerning the population health effects of outdoor air pollution derived from biomass fires. Frequent seasonal bushfires near Darwin, Australia provide an opportunity to examine this issue. We examined the relationship between atmospheric particle loadings <10 microns in diameter (PM 10), and emergency hospital admissions for cardio-respiratory conditions over the three fire seasons of 2000, 2004 and 2005. In addition we examined the differential impacts on Indigenous Australians, a high risk population subgroup.

Methods:
We conducted a case-crossover analysis of emergency hospital admissions with principal ICD10 diagnosis codes J00–J99 and I00–I99. Conditional logistic regression models were used to calculate odds ratios for admission with 10 μg/m3 rises in PM10. These were adjusted for weekly influenza rates, same day mean temperature and humidity, the mean temperature and humidity of the previous three days, days with rainfall > 5 mm, public holidays and holiday periods.

Results:
PM10 ranged from 6.4 – 70.0 μg/m3 (mean 19.1). 2466 admissions were examined of which 23% were for Indigenous people. There was a positive relationship between PM10 and admissions for all respiratory conditions (OR 1.08 95%CI 0.98–1.18) with a larger magnitude in the Indigenous subpopulation (OR1.17 95% CI 0.98–1.40). While there was no relationship between PM10 and cardiovascular admissions overall, there was a positive association with ischaemic heart disease in Indigenous people, greatest at a lag of 3 days (OR 1.71 95%CI 1.14–2.55).

Conclusion:
PM10 derived from vegetation fires was predominantly associated with respiratory rather than cardiovascular admissions. This outcome is consistent with the few available studies of ambient biomass smoke pollution. Indigenous people appear to be at higher risk of cardio-respiratory hospital admissions associated with exposure to PM10.
Keywords severe vegetation fires
biomass smoke
cardio-respiratory hospital admissions
Indigenous Australians
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-7-240   (check subscription with CDU E-Gateway service for CDU Staff and Students  check subscription with CDU E-Gateway in new window)


© copyright

Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in CDU eSpace. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact digitisation@cdu.edu.au.

 
Versions
Version Filter Type
Access Statistics: 298 Abstract Views, 262 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics
Created: Tue, 23 Oct 2012, 09:38:03 CST by Teresa Haendel