Does the presence of vegetation affect asthma hospitalizations among the elderly? A comparison between rural, suburban, and urban areas

摘要: Abstract Climate change and increasing urbanization have intensified scientific interest in understanding the impact of vegetation cover on human health. While elderly population (persons 65+y.o.) continues to grow, environmental determinants for asthma this group remain poorly understood. Using spatial time series analysis we investigated effect as measured by Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) hospitalization rates (AHR)(ICD-9 codes 493.0-9) among Medicare recipients seven northeastern United States. We considered potential confounders, including income, land category, seasonal influenza activity, density, classified urban, suburban, rural. Time-series identified patterns hospitalizations counter-phase with NDVI: when vigor increases, AHR decreases (R 2 =0.59, p=0.001). Winter peaks correlated an increase =0.43, Spatial multivariate found HRs increased significantly (RR=1.048, 95% CI:1.072-1.086, p=0.001) density increased. Regardless location, living poverty (RR=1.014, CI:1.026-1.018, After adjusting income percent population, evergreen urban areas demonstrated a small, yet protective (RR=0.998, CI:0.993-0.997, p=0.02). These results suggest that could be important factor reducing risk hospitalizations.