| Summary: | Introduction: Ambient air pollution is associated with increase in morbidity from heart diseases. Air pollutant concentrations in the Reykjavík area are known to surpass official health limits many times every year. Objectives: To evaluate the association between ambient air concentration of NO2, O3, PM10, and H2S in the Reykjavík area and the dispensing of drugs for the heart disease, angina pectoris. Methods: Data on the daily dispensing of drugs for angina pectoris were obtained from The Icelandic Pharmaceuticals Data Bank. Data on concentrations of NO2, O3, PM10, and H2S were obtained from The City of Reykjavík, and The Environment Agency of Iceland. A time-stratified case-crossover design was used and the study period was January 1st 2005 to December 31st 2009. Results: The exposure to air pollution was associated with the dispensing of drugs for cardiovascular disease (C01DA). For every 10 µg/m3 increase of NO2 concentration levels the dispensing of glyceril trinitrates (sub-group C01DA02) increased by 11.6% (at lag 0) and 7.1% (at lag 1). Similarly, each 10 µg/m3 increase of O3 concentration was associated with 9.0% (at lag 0) and 7.2% (at lag 1) increase in glyceril trinitrate dispensations. Conclusion: Caution is needed in the conclusion as this is the first study to examine the association between ambient air pollution and dispensing of drugs for angina pectoris. However, the findings suggest that increased air pollution levels are associated with increased dispensing of glyceril trinitrate and this may be used as a sensitive indicator on health effects of air pollution. Inngangur: Sýnt hefur verið fram á að breytingar í styrkleika loftmengunarefna hafa áhrif á heilsufar hjartasjúklinga. Loftgæði á Íslandi eru almennt talin góð en við ákveðnar aðstæður getur styrkleiki loftmengunar farið yfir heilsuverndarmörk í Reykjavík. Markmið: Markmið þessarar rannsóknar var að rannsaka hvort samband er milli loftmengunarefnanna NO2, O3, PM10 og H2S og afgreiðslu á hjartalyfjum sem gefin eru við hjartaöng í ...
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