the relationship between laoshan winds and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in hengchun peninsula, taiwan

Background: the north-easterlymonsoonsoriginatingfromsiberia-mongolia predominantly determine the weather patterns during the cold and dry seasons in taiwan. laoshan winds (lws), which have been recorded since 1894, can influence agricultural activities and cause an increase in the amount of dust during the dry period in the hengchun peninsula. methods: this study investigated the associations among weather changes, particulate matter (pm), lw, and public health impact in hengchun peninsula during january to april and october to december 2006 to 2010. the data regarding weather conditions, pm with aerodynamic diameters smaller than or equal to 2.5 µm (pm2.5), pm with aerodynamic diameters smaller than or equal to 10 µm(pm10), and hospital and clinic admissions for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases were obtained from several governmental sources in taiwan. disease admissions data were categorised to four age groups: zero to four: infants, five to fourteen: children, 15 to 64: adults; and > 65: elderly. the australian apparent temperature, poisson regression model, and parametric test (z statistic for a one-tailed test) were used to analyse the data. results: the resultsshowedthat lws cause a significant reduction in relative humidityandsurface air temperatureanda significant increase in air pressure and wind speed, which induces a significant decrease in the apparent temperature. significant increases were noted in the mean number of admissions in the adults group for respiratory diseases; there was a 13.4% [95% ci, 2.13% to 25.8%] increase on the lwdays (p < 0.05). conclusions: these results imply that the lws along with the cold weather and strong local winds caused an increase in the incidence of respiratory diseases, which was also associated with winter monsoon and topographical characteristics.