Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Department

Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Sub-Department

The Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health

First Advisor

Anwar T. Merchant

Abstract

Background. The Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, including both Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease, are lifelong disorders of the Gastrointestinal tract. In recent years, both conditions have become much more prevalent and recognized as major public health issues. Environmental factors have become the focus of recent research around the cause of these diseases. Although shown to have detrimental effects on diseases similar to that of the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, fine particulate matter’s role in these diseases has not been adequately investigated.

Aim. The purpose of this study was to test the relation of fine particulate matter with hospitalizations attributable to Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn’s Disease over a seven-year period in South Carolina.

Methods. Average annual county-level fine particulate matter levels were compared to the annual county-level counts of in-patient hospitalizations attributable to Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease from the years 2005 through 2011. A generalized linear mixed effects model was developed for both diseases, and incorporated both spatial and temporal components.

Results. Both Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease hospitalizations significantly increased across the study years, even after adjusting for differences in population sizes; whereas fine particulate matter significantly decreased across the study years. Overall, fine particulate matter was not found to be a significant predictor of county-level annual hospitalizations attributable to Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn’s Disease across the study period.

Conclusions. These findings did not support the tested hypothesis that fine particulate matter would be a significant predictor of Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn’s Disease in South Carolina from the years 2005 through 2011.

Rights

© 2016, Joshua Eric Sellner

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