THE INFLUENCE OF GROUND LEVEL OZONE ON THE OCCURRENCE OF COMMUNITY ACQUIRED PNEUMONIA IN THE ELDERLY POPULATION OF A METROPOLIS

The study was conducted using data from Moscow and the Moscow region over a five year period. Ozone concentrations were measured every 20 minutes at four Mosecomonitoring stations. To analyze the number of community acquired pneumonia cases, we used data provided by A. S. Puchkov Emergency and Urgent Medical Care Station of the Moscow Department of Health. The study was limited to patients over 60 years of age. Based on the results of our study, it can be concluded that in summer, ground level ozone increases the incidence of community acquired pneumonia among Moscow residents over 60 years of age. Elderly women tolerate air pollution with ozone worse than elderly men. For men of this age category, the same ozone indicators average of community acquired pneumonia cases. It should be noted that for older people, the safe level of ground level ozone concentration is significantly lower than that accepted by the World Health Organization.