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Particulate Matter (PM) air pollution is a serious concern in the northern Moravia region of the Czech Republic. This study aimed to evaluate the association between the risk of acute hospital admissions for cardiovascular (CVD) and respiratory diseases and PM2.5 concentrations using a geographic information system (GIS). The data on acute hospital admissions for cardiovascular (I00-99 according to ICD-10) and respiratory (J00-99) diseases was assigned to 77 geographical units (population of 601,299) based on the residence. The annual concentrations of PM2.5 in the period from 2013–2019 were assigned to these units according to the respective concentration iso-shapes. The Incidence Rate Ratio (IRR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated for each concentration category and then compared with the reference category. Statistical analyses were performed using SW STATA v.15. In 2013, approx. half of the population (56%) belonged to the PM2.5 category 34–35 µg·m−3, and 4% lived in PM2.5 concentrations ≥ 38 µg·m−3. During the analysed period, the average concentrations decreased from 30.8 to 21.4 µg·m−3. A statistically significant risk of acute hospitalization for CVD causes was identified in categories ≥ 36 µg·m−3, and for respiratory causes from 34–35 µg·m−3. With increasing concentrations, the risk of both acute cardiovascular and respiratory hospitalizations increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: The city of Ostrava and its surroundings belong to the most long-therm polluted areas in the Czech Republic and Europe. For identification of health risk, the World Health Organization recommends a theoretical estimation of increased short-term PM10 concentrations effect on hospital admissions for cardiac complaints based on a 0.6% increase per 10 µg.m-3 PM10 and 1.14% increase for respiratory causes. The goal of the present study is to verify the percentage increase of morbidity due to cardiovascular and respiratory causes, as per WHO recommendations for health risk assessment, in the population of Ostrava.Method: The input data include data on PM10 air pollution, meteorological data, the absolute number of hospital admissions for acute cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in the period 2010-2012. To examine the association between air pollution and health outcomes the time series Poisson regression adjusted for covariates was used.Results: A significant relationship was found between the cardiovascular hospital admissions (percentage increase of 1.24% per 10 µg.m-3) and values of PM10 less than 150 µg.m-3 in the basic model, although after adjustment for other factors, this relationship was no longer significant. A significant relationship was also observed for respiratory causes of hospital admissions in the basic model. Contrary to cardiovascular hospitalization, the relationship between respiratory hospital admissions and PM10 values below 150 µg.m-3 (percentage increase of 1.52%) remained statistically significant after adjustment for other factors.Conclusions: The observed significant relationship between hospital admissions for respiratory causes was consistent with the results of large European and American studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]