Asthma Hospitalisation in Relation to Sulphur Dioxide Atmospheric Contamination in the Kwinana Industrial Area of Western Australia

A case‐control study was conducted to examine the relationship between hospital admissions for asthma attacks in 1979–1984 and airborne sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ) pollution in an industrial and residential area on the outskirts of Penn, Western Australia. There were 255 cases and 903 controls, each assigned levels of SO 2 exposure based on their place of residence and, for subjects of school age, their place of schooling. Compared with residents exposed to a mean SO 2 level of less than 8 ug/m 3 , the estimated rate ratios were 1.1 (95% CI 0.8‐1.5) in those exposed to 8–14 ug/m 3 , 0.8 (0.5‐1.3) for exposures of 15.21 ug/m 3 and 0.9 (0.5‐1.9) in the highest exposed group with 22–46 ug/m 3 . Analysis of the frequency of peak levels in SO 2 pollution yielded similar results. The study showed no evidence of an increased rate of hospital admission for asthma in residents exposed to higher levels of SO 2 compared with other persons in the district.