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. 2021 Mar 30;18(10):1642–1649. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.202008-976OC

Table 3.

Absolute and relative increases in numbers of beneficiaries with a likely respiratory-related event per 100,000 beneficiaries per day attributable to selected tree pollen exposure levels

  Increase in Number of Beneficiaries with an Event per 100,000 Beneficiaries per Day
Phone Calls and E-mails Provider Visits UC/CDU/ Emergency Department Visits Hospital Admissions
Effect Estimate: Same-Day Exposure Model 1.128 0.737 0.114 0.068
(0.968–1.287) (0.496–0.978) (0.004–0.224) (0.0150–0.120)
Absolute increase in number of beneficiaries with a likely respiratory-related event per 100,000 beneficiaries per day Tree pollen (100 grain units): same-day exposure 1 standard deviation 4.25 units/m3 4.79 3.13 0.485 0.287
(4.12–5.47) (2.11–4.16) (0.019–0.950) (0.064–0.511)
Interquartile range 3.36 units/m3 3.79 2.49 0.383 0.227
(3.25–4.32) (1.67–3.29) (0.015–0.751) (0.050–0.404)
Spike 11.29 units/m3 12.73 8.32 1.29 0.763
(10.93–14.53) (5.60–11.04) (0.05–2.53) (0.169–1.357)
Relative increase in number of beneficiaries with a likely respiratory-related event per 100,000 beneficiaries per day Tree pollen (100 grain units): same-day exposure 1 standard deviation 4.25 units/m3 12.84% 3.14% 1.77% 6.28%
(11.02–14.65) (2.11–4.17) (0.07–3.48) (1.39–11.16)
Interquartile range 3.36 units/m3 10.15% 2.48% 1.40% 4.96%
(8.72–11.58) (1.67–3.30) (0.05–2.75) (1.15–8.83)
Spike 11.29 units/m3 34.10% 8.35% 4.71% 16.68%
(29.29–38.92) (5.62–11.07) (0.17–9.25) (3.69–29.66)

Definition of abbreviations: CDU = clinical decision unit; UC = urgent care unit.

• Model effect estimates are based on observations with events that are likely respiratory related.

• Absolute increases in numbers of beneficiaries with the event are computed from the effect estimates (Table 3) times the number of beneficiary days for the tree pollen sample (Table 2).

• Relative increases in the numbers are computed as the absolute increases in numbers of beneficiaries with the event per 100,000 beneficiaries per day (Table 3) divided by the average proportion of beneficiaries with an event per 100,000 beneficiaries per day (Table 2).

• “Spike” is defined as the difference between the 95th percentile and the median for an exposure measure (Table 1).