Association between air pollution and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in Itabira, Minas Gerais State, Brazil

The city of Itabira, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, is located in the Espinha?o Mountain Range, an area that features large-scale mechanized iron ore pit mines. The current study evaluates the acute effects of inhalable particulate matter (PM10) in terms of emergency room visits due to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in Itabira. Generalized additive Poisson regression models were adopted, controlling for temperature, humidity, and both short and long-term seasonality. Increases of 10mg/m(3) in PM10 were associated with increases in respiratory emergency room visits of 4% (95%CI: 2.2-5.8), at lags 0 and 1 for children and adolescents younger than 13 years of age, and of 12% (95%CI: 8.5-15.5) on the three subsequent days for adolescents (13 to 19 years of age). For cardiovascular diseases, the effect was acute (4%; 95%CI: 0.8-8.5) and mainly for the 45 to 64 age group. These results show that PM10 generated by open pit mining can lead to health problems in the exposed population.