Associations Between Dust and Thunderstorm Exposures and Hospitalizations in Lubbock, Texas, USA

Although it is a growing area of investigation in the Global Dust Belt, few prior population-level studies have evaluated human health associations of windblown dust in North America. We investigated whether acute, short-term dust exposures and thunderstorm exposures in Lubbock, Texas (a medium-sized, dust-prone city in the southern Great Plains of the USA) are associated with significant increases in hospitalizations on the day of the exposure and up to seven days afterwards. Using a quasi-Poisson regression, it was found that relative risks of hospitalizations for multiple conditions were significantly positively associated with dust exposures and thunderstorm exposures between 2010 and 2014, with lag periods of up to 6 days after exposure. Consistent with prior studies of dust health effects in other cities, we found increased hospitalization risk for respiratory disease, asthma, ischemia, and cerebrovascular disease at various lags. We also found associations with mental disorders and other conditions, including Associated Diseases (aggregation of all causes, each associated with at least 5% of hospitalizations). The highest relative risks for hospitalizations in Lubbock were for neurodegenerative diseases on the day of exposure. Associations were modified by season, day of week, and holiday effects. As climate change increases water stress on dryland agriculture, dust exposures are likely to increase for residents of dryland cities. Additional investigations are needed for other dust-prone population centers worldwide to document the health effects of dust and thunderstorm exposures.