Air Quality Effects on Health-Indicator Data in Disease Outbreak Surveillance

Utilizing the concept that air quality has predictable impacts on certain disease patterns enables better detection of unexpected fluctuations in community health trends and thereby enhances earlier detection of disease outbreaks. This study illustrates that increases in daily outdoor ozone concentrations are associated with quantifiable short-term increases in hospital emergency department visits for asthma exacerbations among Medicaid patients, especially among 5-12 year olds. Spatial variation in asthma visits did not appear to be completely explained by spatial variations either in pollutant level or in Medicaid population. Recognizing air quality impacts in health data will enable disease surveillance systems to rule out relatively common air quality problems in monitoring for the effects of a bioterrorist attack Routine monitoring of air quality indicators along with the corresponding health-indicator effects also can assist in establishing expected ranges for disease levels to establish alerting thresholds for disease outbreak surveillance.