Table 4.
Associations of same day (lag 0) district-level PM2.5 and ER visits for respiratory by age group, for outcomes where there was significant (<0.05) effect modification by socioeconomic status (SES). Effect estimates presented as rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) per interquartile range (IQR) increase in PM2.5.
| Disease | Age Group | Poverty Level* | RR | LCL | UCL | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Respiratory | all | richer | 1.01 | 0.99 | 1.03 | 0.29 |
| all | poorer | 1.06 | 1.02 | 1.10 | <0.0001 | |
| 0–18 | richer | 0.99 | 0.97 | 1.01 | 0.37 | |
| 0–18 | poorer | 1.05 | 1.01 | 1.09 | <0.0001 | |
| Infectious Respiratory | all | richer | 1.02 | 1.00 | 1.05 | 0.04 |
| all | poorer | 1.07 | 1.02 | 1.12 | 0.0001 | |
| 0–18 | richer | 1.00 | 0.98 | 1.02 | 0.87 | |
| 0–18 | poorer | 1.06 | 1.01 | 1.11 | <0.0001 | |
| Non-infectious respiratory | all | richer | 0.99 | 0.97 | 1.02 | 0.56 |
| all | poorer | 1.05 | 1.00 | 1.11 | <0.0001 | |
| 0–18 | richer | 0.98 | 0.95 | 1.01 | 0.20 | |
| 0–18 | poorer | 1.04 | 0.97 | 1.11 | 0.0003 | |
*
Richer districts were those where the average household poverty level, as defined by the Peruvian census, was lower than the median percentage of households living in poverty across all districts, which was 12.4%. Poorer districts had poverty levels of 12.4% or greater.