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Arid areas in the Arabian Peninsula are one of the largest sources of global dust, yet there is no data on the impact of this on human health. This study aimed to investigate the impact of dust storms on hospital admissions due to asthma and all respiratory diseases over a period of 5years in Kuwait.

A population-based retrospective time series study of daily emergency asthma admissions and admissions due to respiratory causes in public hospitals in Kuwait was analyzed in relation to dust storm events. Dust storm days were defined as the mean daily PM₁₀>200μg/m³ based on measurements obtained from all six monitoring sites in the country.

During the five-year study period, 569 (33.6%) days had dust storm events and they were significantly associated with an increased risk of same-day asthma and respiratory admission, adjusted relative risk of 1.07 (95% CI: 1.02–1.12) and …