Association between cold wave and carbon monoxide poisoning risk caused by household coal heating: a case study of Jinan

Objective In case of Jinan to analyze the time distribution of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning events caused by household coal heating in Jinan, and to explore the acute effect of cold wave on CO poisoning.

Methods The CO poisoning events caused by household coal heating in Jinan from 2007 to 2021 were collected. A time-stratified case-crossover was performed to evaluate the impact of 10 different cold wave definitions and its lag of 0-10 days on CO poisoning.

Results From 2007 to 2021, there were 4 093 cases of CO poisoning caused by household coal heating in Jinan. The cold wave was associated with the increased risk of CO poisoning in Jinan. When P₀₁, P₀₅ and P₁₀were used as temperature thresholds for cold wave, the most significant effects were observed when P₀₁ (3), P₀₅ (5) and P₁₀ (5) lagged for 6 days, with and OR of 2.58 (95%CI: 1.59-4.19), 2.06 (95%CI: 1.57-2.7) and 1.62 (95%CI: 1.36-1.93), respectively.

Conclusion There were different effects on CO poisoning for different temperature thresholds of cold waves; while, with the decrease of low temperature threshold and the increase of cold wave duration, the impact of cold waves on CO poisoning was increasing accordingly, and there was a significant correlationship between cold wave and risk of CO poisoning.