Short-term effects of ambient fine particulate matter pollution on hospital visits for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Beijing, China

Little is known about the effect of ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in China. The objective of this study was to explore the short-term effects of PM2.5 on outpatient and inpatient visits for COPD in Beijing, China.A total of 3,503,313 outpatient visits and 126,982 inpatient visits for COPD between January 1, 2010, and June 30, 2012, were identified from the Beijing Medical Claim Data for...