Quantifying the effect of air pollution and temperature on hospitalization costs for chronic lower respiratory diseases.

Background: Environmental exposure is a crucial factor contributing to the increasing health and economic burden of chronic lower respiratory diseases (CLRDs). This study aims to quantify the effects of environmental exposure on hospitalization costs associated with CLRDs and their population heterogeneity, thus providing a scientific basis for formulating more precise and effective cost-control policies. Methods: Hospital admission records from seven major tertiary hospitals in Changchun from 2017 to 2020 were collected, as were environmental monitoring and meteorological data. A generalized additive model and distributed lag nonlinear model were employed to identify the exposure-response relationships and lag effects of pollutants and temperature. Results: A total of 23,569 patients with CLRDs were included. Most of the participants were male (50.83%) and aged 60 years and older (63.42%), with hospitalization costs accounting for 54.22 and 67.96% of total costs, respectively. When the concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, SO Conclusion: A significant association was observed between increased air pollutant concentrations and the hospitalization costs of patients with CLRDs, with heterogeneity among different populations. Specifically, the effects of SO