Air pollution and hospitalization for respiratory diseases among children in Isfahan, Iran

Background: Adverse effects of urban air pollution on human health notably the paediatric age group is of great importance. Limited data exist from developing countries. This study investigates the hospitalization of children because of respiratory diseases and air pollu-tion levels in Isfahan, the second large city in Iran.Methods: Hospital admission data were collected ret-rospectively from 120 randomly selected respiratory patients in Pediatric wards from the main referral hos-pital in Isfahan from March 2005 -2006, and simulta-neous air pollution data were collected from two moni-toring stations located in south and north parts of the city.Results: The result of statistical modeling using gener-alized linear Poisson regression showed that PM10 and sulfur dioxide (SO2) concentrations had statistically significant positive association with number of respira-tory admissions of children.Conclusion: This study confirms the findings of previ-ous studies about the association of air pollutants’ lev-els with hospitalization because of respiratory diseases in young children. Air pollution continues to pose a threat to public health notably in the paediatric age group, and underscores the need to re-examine national environmental health policies and standards in devel-oping countries