ABSTRACT

This study is part of the health surveillance system set up with the construction of a waste-to-energy (WTE) plant in Turin (Italy). Circulatory and respiratory diseases in emergency room (ER) accesses and first hospital admissions were considered. Main concerns of population living in the area near WTE were to know whether single and repeated peaks in emissions would correspond to adverse health effects. We tackle this issue using spatio-temporal analyses, comparing an exposed group (EXP) living near the WTE with a reference group (NOEXP). Age-standardized rates of ER accesses between EXP and NOEXP were temporally compared, testing whether there have been significantly different changes over time. We also examined the relationship between emission peaks and ER accesses in the following days. Finally, with time-series analysis, we investigated variations in ER accesses and pollutants before and after WTE start-up. No significant relationship has been found for the outcome considered.

摘要

这项研究是在都灵（意大利）建设垃圾发电 (WTE) 工厂时建立的健康监测系统的一部分。考虑了急诊室 (ER) 通道和首次入院时的循环和呼吸系统疾病。生活在 WTE 附近地区的人们的主要担忧是了解排放的单一峰值和重复峰值是否对应于不利的健康影响。我们使用时空分析来解决这个问题，将生活在 WTE 附近的暴露组 (EXP) 与参考组 (NOEXP) 进行比较。时间上比较了 EXP 和 NOEXP 之间的年龄标准化 ER 访问率，测试是否随着时间的推移存在显着不同的变化。我们还在接下来的几天里检查了排放峰值和 ER 访问之间的关系。最后，通过时间序列分析，我们调查了 WTE 启动前后 ER 访问和污染物的变化。没有发现与所考虑的结果有显着关系。