in Albania - Instituti i Shendetit Publik

INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH CONFERENCE IN TIRANA, ALBANIAAssociation of particulate air pollution with hospitaladmissions in pediatric clinics in Pristine, KosovoAntigona Ukëhaxhaj 1 , Naser Ramadani 1 , Dragan Gjorgjev 2 ,Selvete Krasniqi 1 , Tahire Maloku 1 , Drita Zogaj 1 , Sanije Gashi 1 ,Arbresha Loxha 11National Institute of Public Health, Pristine, Kosovo;2Medical Faculty, University of Skopje Kirij i Metodij , Skopje, FYROM.Aim: Air pollution is a critical environmentalproblem in urban areas in Kosovo. Ambient airquality is particularly poor in Pristine, the Obiliq area,and the Drenas area. The principal sources ofcontaminants are sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogenoxides NO and NO2 (NOx), ozone (O3), lead(Pb), carbon dioxide (CO2), particulate matter (PMor dust). The objective of this study was toinvestigate and define the current burden of acuteand chronic effects of particulate matters airpollution through specific mortality data andrespiratoryhospital admissions in UCCK Pristine,as well as to estimate potential benefits ofdecreasing of daily PM10 levels.Methods: The analytical research has predicted thepotential benefit of decreasing of daily average forconcentrations of O 3, Pm10 and PM2.5 and theimpact on human health in Pristine and Drenas forthe years 2010, 2011 and 2012. The study populationconsisted of all hospitalized patients in pediatricclinics for the period 2010-2012. Air pollutionmeasurements was used by KHMI data for theperiod 2010-2012 for the municipality of Pristinein the measurements point in: KHMI-MESP whichis equipped with automatic analyzer sulfur dioxide(SO 2), nitrogen oxides (NO x) carbon monoxide(CO), O 3, suspended particle analyzer PM10/PM2.5with air pointer Automatic Air Compact MonitoringSystem (Version 2.2) recordum MESSTECHNIKGmbH. Poisson regression models were used toassess the association of air pollutant concentrationswith hospitalization rates.Results: The air quality data from KHMI show thatPM, notably, exceeds the European Union limitvalue of an average annual concentration of 40 ìg/m 3 for PM10, both in the city center and in thesuburban area and often exceeds the one-day limitvalue (not to be exceeded more than 35 times a year)of 50 ìg/ m 3 . The overall number of deaths inchildren for the period 2010-2012 was 4880. Overallmorbidity in children was 2389: among childrenaged 0-4 years there were 1871 (78.3%) cases withrespiratory diseases, whereas in children aged 5-14years there were 518 (21.7%) cases with respiratorydiseases.Conclusion: This study has shown strong andconsistent associations between children hospitaladmissions from respiratory diseases and airpollution in Pristine, Obiliq and Drenas. Thesefindings provide evidence that air pollution continuesto have a significant adverse effect on populationhealth in Kosovo.Keywords: A ir pollution, airborneparticles, children respiratorydiseases, hospital admission, mortalityALBANIAN MEDICAL JOURNAL SUPPLEMENT21