ASTHMA AND EXACERBATION OF CHRONIC-BRONCHITIS - SENTINEL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DATA IN A TIME-SERIES ANALYSIS

To see whether effects of air pollutants and other environmental facto rs on the respiratory tract can be detected by the Swiss sentinel repo rting system, two years' data of asthma bronchiale and exacerbation of chronic bronchitis were analyzed. On average, 16 cases of asthma and 9 cases of bronchitis were reported per week. The respective figures e xpressed as mean percentages of all consultations were 0.12% and 0.065 %. Data of SO2, NO2, ozone and total suspended particles were used to measure air pollution. Additionally, meteorologic parameters such as a ir temperature and atmospheric pressure were used, as well as the appe arance of the most important pollen groups in Switzerland: grass, birc htree and mugwort. Environmental data were summarized using the mean o r sum of all measuring stations. Autocorrelations in the time series w ere accounted for statistically. Our analysis could not establish any relationship between reports of asthma or exacerbation of chronic bron chitis and air pollutants or other environmental data. This result, wh ich is partly contradicted by the literature, could be explained by lo w numbers of reports due to patient's self administration of medicatio n and an imprecise determination of true exposure.