Short-term effects of air quality and thermal stress on non-accidental morbidity-a multivariate meta-analysis comparing indices to single measures

Air quality and thermal stress lead to increased morbidity and mortality. Studies on morbidity and the combined impact of air pollution and thermal stress are still rare. To analyse the correlations between air quality, thermal stress and morbidity, we used a two-stage meta-analysis approach, consisting of a Poisson regression model combined with distributed lag non-linear models (DLNMs) and a meta-analysis investigating whether latitude or the number of inhabitants significantly influence the correlations. We used air pollution, meteorological and hospital admission data from 28 administrative districts along a north-south gradient in western Germany from 2001 to 2011. We compared the performance of the single measure particulate matter (PM10) and air temperature to air quality indices (MPI and CAQI) and the biometeorological index UTCI. Based on the Akaike information criterion (AIC), it can be shown that using air quality indices instead of single measures increases the model strength. However, using the UTCI in the model does not give additional information compared to mean air temperature. Interaction between the 3-day average of air quality (max PM10, max CAQI and max MPI) and meteorology (mean air temperature and mean UTCI) did not improve the models. Using the mean air temperature, we found immediate effects of heat stress (RR 1.0013, 95% CI: 0.9983-1.0043) and by 3 days delayed effects of cold stress (RR: 1.0184, 95% CI: 1.0117-1.0252). The results for air quality differ between both air quality indices and PM10. CAQI and MPI show a delayed impact on morbidity with a maximum RR after 2 days (MPI 1.0058, 95% CI: 1.0013-1.0102; CAQI 1.0068, 95% CI: 1.0030-1.0107). Latitude was identified as a significant meta-variable, whereas the number of inhabitants was not significant in the model.

Making air quality indices comparable--assessment of 10 years of air pollutant levels in western Europe

To address the incomparability of the large number of existing air quality indices, we propose a new normalization method that is suited to directly compare air quality indices based on the common European World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines for NO2, O3, and PM10. Using this method, we compared three air quality indices based on the European guidelines, related them to another air quality index based on the relative risk concept, and used them to assess the air quality and its trends in northwest central Europe. The average air quality in the area of investigation is below the recommended European guidelines. The majority of index values exceeding this threshold are caused by PM10, which is also, in most cases, responsible for the degrading trends in air quality. Eleven out of 29 stations tested showed significant trends, of which eight indicated trends towards better air quality.