RESPIRATORY SYSTEM EMERGENCY SERVICE VISITS IN ADANA, TURKEY (2007-2011)

摘要

The center of the province of Adana is located on a flat area, yet being a metropolitan area it has some ambient air quality issues. In this study, a comprehensive evaluation was completed on the effects on health, exemplified by the emergency respiratory system and asthma diagnoses, which are triggered with urban air pollution chiefly caused by motor vehicle traffic nowadays. The air pollution data that exist between 2007 and 2011 and the upper respiratory and asthma diagnosed emergency room admittances to Cukurova University Balcali Hospital were evaluated. For this purpose the official records collected for four consecutive years from Adana Cukurova University Balcali Hospital and ambient air quality monitoring stations were evaluated. The relationships between asthma and air quality parameters as well as between respiratory system diagnoses and air quality parameters were statistically evaluated using trend analysis. It is found that there is a significantly decreasing trend in the number of emergency visits due to asthma problems in Adana. However, an insignificantly changing trend in respiratory system diagnoses was determined.