Szyszkowicz Zemek Colman 2020

The hourly air pollutant concentrations were recorded by ambient air quality monitoring stations in Toronto managed by the National Air Pollution Surveillance (NAPS) network in Canada [38]. Daily concentration levels were calculated as an average among the monitors.

Air pollution was measured every hour at multiple air quality monitoring stations in Toronto. These stations are run by Canada’s National Air Pollution Surveillance (NAPS) network. The researchers then averaged the stations’ measurements to get an one pollution level for each day.

The modes of entrance of air pollutants into the human body are limited, but the resultant physiological responses can present a large spectrum of pathologies.

There is a low number of ways that air pollutants can enter the body, but once it enters, the air pollutants can cause a large amount of diseases and health problems.

In the case of PM2.5, lags from 0 to 3 days have positive associations, as opposed to lags 4 and 5.

Exposure to higher pollutant levels of fine particulate matter is associated with an increase in visits to the emergency department for mental health reasons from the day of exposure, to 3 days after the exposure.

Fine particulate matter—the main component in ambient air pollution—had the most consistent statistically significant associations with mental health disorders. The chemical composition of particulate matter is also a significant factor, as it may be specific to the city of Toronto.

Fine particulate matter showed the strongest association to mental health disorders. The chemicals that make up the fine particulate matter is also important, as Toronto may have different chemicals or chemical concentrations that make up fine particulate matter than other cities.

Future research should focus on whether the chemical make up of PM2.5 is associated with mental health related emergency department visits. As discussed in the paper, the chemical makeup of PM2.5 in Toronto may be different from other locations. Researchers could measure and compare the PM2.5 chemical make ups of different locations with the number of mental health related emergency department visits in those respective locations to help determine this.

My lack of knowledge about statistics made it hard for me to understand the results section of this paper. Many of the tables and abbreviations took a long time for me to research to better my understanding. Receiving help from someone who understands statistics would have helped me better understand the research paper.