Table 3. Relationship Between Number of Emergency Room Visits and Environmental Variables by Disease Classification, Expressed as Rate Ratio (RR) with 95% Confidence Intervals.
| Outcome | PM10 | MDT | Humidity | Precipitation | ||||
| RR (95% CI) | p-val. | RR (95% CI) | p-val. | RR (95% CI) | p-val. | RR (95% CI) | p-val. | |
| Asthma | 0.99 (0.95, 1.03) | 0.55 | 1.07 (0.98, 1.17) | 0.11 | 1.03 (0.95, 1.12) | 0.48 | 0.98 (0.95, 1.02) | 0.36 |
| COPD | 1.00 (0.97, 1.03) | 1.00 | 1.02 (0.93, 1.11) | 0.72 | 1.05 (0.97, 1.14) | 0.23 | 0.99 (0.95, 1.02) | 0.49 |
| CHF | 0.99 (0.94, 1.04) | 0.74 | 1.01 (0.9, 1.14) | 0.88 | 1.04 (0.93, 1.17) | 0.48 | 1.00 (0.96, 1.05) | 0.94 |
| MI | 0.96 (0.88, 1.04) | 0.32 | 1.00 (0.86, 1.17) | 0.99 | 1.13 (0.98, 1.31) | 0.08 | 0.94 (0.88, 1.00) | 0.07 |
| Stroke | 0.95 (0.85, 1.05) | 0.30 | 0.97 (0.79, 1.19) | 0.76 | 1.01 (0.83, 1.22) | 0.95 | 0.96 (0.88, 1.04) | 0.35 |
| Urolithiasis | 1.02 (0.99, 1.06) | 0.21 | 1.13 (1.02, 1.26) | 0.02 | 1.04 (0.94, 1.14) | 0.45 | 1.00 (0.96, 1.04) | 0.93 |
Notes: Rate ratio (RR) for PM10 are increases of 10 μg/m3. RR for Max Daily Temperature (MDT) are increases of 5˚C. RR humidity are increases of 10%. RR for precipitation are increases of 1 mm. RR (95% CI) estimated from multivariable Poisson models as described in Methods. p-values are reported to the second decimal place. COPD = Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease; CHF = Congestive Heart Failure; MI = Myocardial Infarction.