Objective To investigate the relationship between the mass concentration of atmospheric fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and the daily outpatients of children with nervous system diseases in Shijiazhuang, China.
Methods A descriptive statistical analysis was performed for daily average mass concentration of air pollutants, daily average temperature, daily average relative humidity, and daily outpatient cases of children with nervous system diseases in Shijiazhuang from 2015 to 2018, and a generalized additive time series model based on Poisson distribution was used to quantitatively evaluate the relationship between PM2.5 mass concentration and the outpatients of children with nervous system diseases. A stratified analysis was performed based on sex, age, and disease types.
Results The median daily average mass concentration of PM2.5 in Shijiazhuang from 2015 to 2018 was 63.50 μg/m3, and the median outpatients of children with nervous system diseases was 74. The time series analysis showed that for every 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 mass concentration (lag7 d), the outpatients (95%CI) of children with nervous system diseases was increased by 0.20% (0.02%, 0.39%), and the stratified analysis showed that there was a relationship between PM2.5 mass concentration and the outpatients of girls with nervous system diseases, children with nervous system diseases aged 0-6 years, children with central inflammatory nervous system diseases, and children with brain injury-related nervous system diseases, with excess risk of visits (95%CI) of 0.30% (0.08%, 0.52%), 0.23% (0.04%, 0.43%), 0.43% (0.08%, 0.79%), and 0.44% (0.10%, 0.77%), respectively.
Conclusion The increase in PM2.5 mass concentration in Shijiazhuang may increase the risk of nervous system diseases in children, especially girls and the children aged 0-6 years, and central inflammatory nervous system diseases and brain injury-related nervous system diseases may be sensitive to PM2.5.
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