40% rise in patients needing critical care when pollution peaks
50% increase in number of children with aggravated respiratory symptoms during the October-january pollution season
NEW DELHI: The number of patients with acute respiratory symptoms who seek emergency care at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, goes up by up to 40% when the pollution levels peak, according to the preliminary findings of a study done at the hospital to understand the short-term impacts of air pollution.
The peak is seen between October and January, when there is an increase of about 30% in the number of adult patients coming to the hospital emergency, the study shows. There is a 50% increase in the number of children with aggravated respiratory symptoms.
But, Delhiites’ health is affected throughout the year and not just when the pollution levels hit “severe” (when the air quality index AQI reads above 401).
The study shows even a small increase in the pollution levels also send patients to the hospital’s emergency department.
Sample this: There is a nearly 20% increase in number of patients needing emergency care when PM2.5 levels, particulate matter of size 2.5 microns or less, is recorded between 50 and 100µg/m³. The National Ambient Air Quality Standards prescribe the safe limit of these ultrafine particles as 60µg/m³. The World Health Organisation (WHO) number is 25 µg/m³ over 24-hours.
PM2.5 are a major heath as it can go deep into the lungs and can affect the respiratory system. It can also enter the blood stream and lead to cardio-vascular diseases.
“Doctors across the city must have observed an increase in the number of respiratory patients in need of emergency care when the pollution levels spike during early winter. The data backs it up. But what it also shows is that the smaller increase in pollution
Doctors must have observed an increase in number of respiratory patients in need of emergency care when pollution levels spike... data backs it up.
DR RANDEEP GULERIA,
AIIMS director
levels throughout the year lead to such increases,” said Dr Randeep Guleria, director, AIIMS, and professor of pulmonary and sleep medicine. “This means the government needs to bring down the threshold at which action is taken to curb pollution.”
In Delhi, there are very few days that conform to the air quality norms. So, the emergency attendance during the monsoon and post monsoon period when the air relatively cleaner has been used as a baseline,” said Dr SK Kabra, professor of paediatrics at AIIMS.
“This means Delhi air is never good for people and there is a need to look at the long term consequences of constant exposure to such polluted air,” he added.
The increase in people coming in with symptoms such as incessant cough, cold, breathlessness, wheezing and tightness in chest lasts for up to six days after exposure to higher levels of pollution, the 24-month long study shows.
During the study, conducted between June 2017 and May 2019, around 70,000 adults and 56,000 children who came to the emergency department of the hospital were screened. The study does not give a breakup of the patients according to age, and includes those who reported to the emergency ward — both those who have a history of respiratory illness and those who did not.
AIIMS is one of the four centres from where the data was collected; Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital, National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases, and Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute being the others.
“Our centre just collated the data which was analysed according to the pollution levels by AIIMS. We do observe an increase in the number of patients every year during the winters. But, there needs to be more studies on what can and needs to be done to control and reduce it,” said Dr Raj Kumar, director of Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute.