Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Haze imposes a substantial disease burden on population especially in Southeast Asia region due to high frequency of haze episodes. Reduction of air quality level due to haze has resulted in substantial disease burden due to increase in healthcare utilisation (HU). This study aims to determine the association of haze and HU due to haze-related respiratory illnesses with a focus given on the exacerbation of bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted through secondary data collection of haze/non-haze episodes as the study exposures and HU related to the exacerbation of bronchial asthma and COPD as the study outcomes. Data on haze/non-haze episodes and HU for four consecutive years (2012-2015) were retrieved from Department of Environment and Ministry of Health Malaysia respectively. RESULTS: In the four consecutive years, the percentage of haze episodes recorded in all stations was higher (67%) as compared to non-haze (33%) episodes. Means (SD) of patients diagnosed with exacerbation of asthma and COPD were also significantly higher (p<0.05) for inpatient 74(62.1) and outpatient 320(650.1) cases during haze episodes as compared to inpatient (3416.5) and outpatient 146(170.5) cases during non-haze episodes. DISCUSSIONS: Findings from this study indicated that haze episode incurred significant healthcare burden due to increase in MRU. The evidence from this study will help the policy makers to prepare and allocate resources to control future implications of haze-related illnesses.
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@proceedings{APCPH-2019-37,
title = {Association of Haze Episodes with Healthcare Utilisation Due to Haze-Related Illnesses at Public Healthcare Facilities.},
author = {Hafiz Jaafar and Marzuki Isahak and Maznah Dahlui},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-07-22},
urldate = {2019-07-22},
journal = {6th Asia-Pacific Conference on Public Health 2019 Proceedings},
issue = {6},
abstract = {INTRODUCTION: Haze imposes a substantial disease burden on population especially in Southeast Asia region due to high frequency of haze episodes. Reduction of air quality level due to haze has resulted in substantial disease burden due to increase in healthcare utilisation (HU). This study aims to determine the association of haze and HU due to haze-related respiratory illnesses with a focus given on the exacerbation of bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted through secondary data collection of haze/non-haze episodes as the study exposures and HU related to the exacerbation of bronchial asthma and COPD as the study outcomes. Data on haze/non-haze episodes and HU for four consecutive years (2012-2015) were retrieved from Department of Environment and Ministry of Health Malaysia respectively. RESULTS: In the four consecutive years, the percentage of haze episodes recorded in all stations was higher (67%) as compared to non-haze (33%) episodes. Means (SD) of patients diagnosed with exacerbation of asthma and COPD were also significantly higher (p\<0.05) for inpatient 74(62.1) and outpatient 320(650.1) cases during haze episodes as compared to inpatient (3416.5) and outpatient 146(170.5) cases during non-haze episodes. DISCUSSIONS: Findings from this study indicated that haze episode incurred significant healthcare burden due to increase in MRU. The evidence from this study will help the policy makers to prepare and allocate resources to control future implications of haze-related illnesses.},
note = {Type: ORAL PRESENTATION; Organisation: Department of Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.},
keywords = {air pollution, apcph2019, haze, healthcare utilisation, respiratory illnesses},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {proceedings}
}