Objectives To study the effect of long term exposure to airborne pollutants on the incidence of acute coronary events in 11 cohorts participating in the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE).Design Prospective cohort studies and meta-analysis of the results.Setting Cohorts in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and Italy.Participants 100 166 people were enrolled from 1997 to 2007 and followed for an average of 11.5 years. Participants were free from previous coronary events at baseline.Main outcome measures Modelled concentrations of particulate matter <2.5 μm (PM2.5), 2.5-10 μm (PMcoarse), and <10 μm (PM10) in aerodynamic diameter, soot (PM2.5 absorbance), nitrogen oxides, and traffic exposure at the home address based on measurements of air pollution conducted in 2008-12. Cohort specific hazard ratios for incidence of acute coronary events (myocardial infarction and unstable angina) per fixed increments of the pollutants with adjustment for sociodemographic and lifestyle risk factors, and pooled random effects meta-analytic hazard ratios.Results 5157 participants experienced incident events. A 5 μg/m3 increase in estimated annual mean PM2.5 was associated with a 13% increased risk of coronary events (hazard ratio 1.13, 95% confidence interval 0.98 to 1.30), and a 10 μg/m3 increase in estimated annual mean PM10 was associated with a 12% increased risk of coronary events (1.12, 1.01 to 1.25) with no evidence of heterogeneity between cohorts. Positive associations were detected below the current annual European limit value of 25 μg/m3 for PM2.5 (1.18, 1.01 to 1.39, for 5 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5) and below 40 μg/m3 for PM10 (1.12, 1.00 to 1.27, for 10 μg/m3 increase in PM10). Positive but non-significant associations were found with other pollutants.Conclusions Long term exposure to particulate matter is associated with incidence of coronary events, and this association persists at levels of exposure below the current European limit values.

Background: Few studies have investigated effects of air pollution on the incidence of cerebrovascular events.Objectives: We assessed the association between long-term exposure to multiple air pollutants and the incidence of stroke in European cohorts.Methods: Data from 11 cohorts were collected, and occurrence of a first stroke was evaluated. Individual air pollution exposures were predicted from land-use regression models developed within the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE). The exposures were: PM2.5 [particulate matter (PM) ≤ 2.5 μm in diameter], coarse PM (PM between 2.5 and 10 μm), PM10 (PM ≤ 10 μm), PM2.5 absorbance, nitrogen oxides, and two traffic indicators. Cohort-specific analyses were conducted using Cox proportional hazards models. Random-effects meta-analysis was used for pooled effect estimation.Results: A total of 99,446 study participants were included, 3,086 of whom developed stroke. A 5-μg/m3 increase in annual PM2.5 exposure was associated with 19% increased risk of incident stroke [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.19, 95% CI: 0.88, 1.62]. Similar findings were obtained for PM10. The results were robust to adjustment for an extensive list of cardiovascular risk factors and noise coexposure. The association with PM2.5 was apparent among those ≥ 60 years of age (HR = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.87), among never-smokers (HR = 1.74, 95% CI: 1.06, 2.88), and among participants with PM2.5 exposure < 25 μg/m3 (HR = 1.33, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.77).Conclusions: We found suggestive evidence of an association between fine particles and incidence of cerebrovascular events in Europe, even at lower concentrations than set by the current air quality limit value.Citation: Stafoggia M, Cesaroni G, Peters A, Andersen ZJ, Badaloni C, Beelen R, Caracciolo B, Cyrys J, de Faire U, de Hoogh K, Eriksen KT, Fratiglioni L, Galassi C, Gigante B, Havulinna AS, Hennig F, Hilding A, Hoek G, Hoffmann B, Houthuijs D, Korek M, Lanki T, Leander K, Magnusson PK, Meisinger C, Migliore E, Overvad K, Östenson CG, Pedersen NL, Pekkanen J, Penell J, Pershagen G, Pundt N, Pyko A, Raaschou-Nielsen O, Ranzi A, Ricceri F, Sacerdote C, Swart WJ, Turunen AW, Vineis P, Weimar C, Weinmayr G, Wolf K, Brunekreef B, Forastiere F. 2014. Long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and incidence of cerebrovascular events: results from 11 European cohorts within the ESCAPE project. Environ Health Perspect 122:919–925; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1307301

Background:Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) describes the intermediate state between normal cognitive aging and dementia. Adverse effects of air pollution (AP) on cognitive functions have been proposed, but investigations of simultaneous exposure to noise are scarce.Objectives:We analyzed the cross-sectional associations of long-term exposure to AP and traffic noise with overall MCI and amnestic (aMCI) and nonamnestic (naMCI) MCI.Methods:At the second examination of the population-based Heinz Nixdorf Recall study, cognitive assessment was completed in 4,086 participants who were 50–80 years old. Of these, 592 participants were diagnosed as having MCI (aMCI, n = 309; naMCI, n = 283) according to previously published criteria using five neuropsychological subtests. We assessed long-term residential concentrations for size-fractioned particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides with land use regression, and for traffic noise [weighted 24-hr (LDEN) and night-time (LNIGHT) means]. Logistic regression models adjusted for individual risk factors were calculated to estimate the association of environmental exposures with MCI in single- and two-exposure models.Results:Most air pollutants and traffic noise were associated with overall MCI and aMCI. For example, an interquartile range increase in PM2.5 and a 10 A-weighted decibel [dB(A)] increase in LDEN were associated with overall MCI as follows [odds ratio (95% confidence interval)]: 1.16 (1.05, 1.27) and 1.40 (1.03, 1.91), respectively, and with aMCI as follows: 1.22 (1.08, 1.38) and 1.53 (1.05, 2.24), respectively. In two-exposure models, AP and noise associations were attenuated [e.g., for aMCI, PM2.5 1.13 (0.98, 1.30) and LDEN 1.46 (1.11, 1.92)].Conclusions:Long-term exposures to air pollution and traffic noise were positively associated with MCI, mainly with the amnestic subtype.Citation:Tzivian L, Dlugaj M, Winkler A, Weinmayr G, Hennig F, Fuks KB, Vossoughi M, Schikowski T, Weimar C, Erbel R, Jöckel KH, Moebus S, Hoffmann B, on behalf of the Heinz Nixdorf Recall study Investigative Group. 2016. Long-term air pollution and traffic noise exposures and mild cognitive impairment in older adults: a cross-sectional analysis of the Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study. Environ Health Perspect 124:1361–1368; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1509824

Our findings showed that high temperature could modify the effects of air pollution on daily mortality and high air pollution might enhance the air temperature effects.

BackgroundStudies investigating the link between long-term exposure to air pollution and incidence of diabetes are still scarce and results are inconsistent, possibly due to different compositions of the particle mixture. We investigate the long-term effect of traffic-specific and total particulate matter (PM) and road proximity on cumulative incidence of diabetes mellitus (mainly type 2) in a large German cohort.MethodsWe followed prospectively 3607 individuals without diabetes at baseline (2000–2003) from the Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study in Germany (mean follow-up time 5.1 years). Mean annual exposures to total as well as traffic-specific PM10 and PM2.5 at residence were estimated using a chemistry transport model (EURAD, 1 km2 resolution). Effect estimates for an increase of 1 μg/m3 in PM were obtained with Poisson regression adjusting for sex, age, body mass index, lifestyle factors, area-level and individual-level socio-economic status, and city.Results331 incident cases developed. Adjusted RRs for total PM10 and PM2.5 were 1.05 (95 %-CI: 1.00;1.10) and 1.03 (95 %-CI: 0.95;1.12), respectively. Markedly higher point estimates were found for local traffic-specific PM with RRs of 1.36 (95 %-CI: 0.98;1.89) for PM10 and 1.36 (95 %-CI: 0.97;1.89) for PM2.5. Individuals living closer than 100 m to a busy road had a more than 30 % higher risk (1.37;95 %-CI: 1.04;1.81) than those living further than 200 m away.ConclusionsLong-term exposure to total PM increases type two diabetes risk in the general population, as does living close to a major road. Local traffic-specific PM was related to higher risks for type two diabetes than total PM.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12940-015-0031-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Long-term exposure to fine PM and night-time traffic noise are both independently associated with subclinical atherosclerosis and may both contribute to the association of traffic proximity with atherosclerosis.

Coronary artery calcification provides the best discrimination of risk compared with CIMT and ABI, particularly in the intermediate risk group, whereas CIMT may be an alternative measure for reassurance in the low risk group.

Background: Long-term exposures to particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5 and PM10) and high traffic load have been associated with markers of systemic inflammation. Epidemiological investigations have focused primarily on total PM, which represents a mixture of pollutants originating from different sources.Objective: We investigated associations between source-specific PM and high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease.Methods: We used data from the first (2000–2003) and second examination (2006–2008) of the Heinz Nixdorf Recall study, a prospective population-based German cohort of initially 4,814 participants (45–75 years of age). We estimated residential long-term exposure to local traffic- and industry-specific fine particulate matter (PM2.5) at participants’ residences using a chemistry transport model. We used a linear mixed model with a random participant intercept to estimate associations of source-specific PM and natural log-transformed hs-CRP, controlling for age, sex, education, body mass index, low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, smoking variables, physical activity, season, humidity, and city (8,204 total observations).Results: A 1-μg/m3 increase in total PM2.5 was associated with a 4.53% increase in hs-CRP concentration (95% CI: 2.76, 6.33%). hs-CRP was 17.89% (95% CI: 7.66, 29.09%) and 7.96% (95% CI: 3.45, 12.67%) higher in association with 1-μg/m3 increases in traffic- and industry-specific PM2.5, respectively. Results for PM10 were similar.Conclusions: Long-term exposure to local traffic-specific PM (PM2.5, PM10) was more strongly associated with systemic inflammation than total PM. Associations of local industry-specific PM were slightly stronger but not significantly different from associations with total PM.Citation: Hennig F, Fuks K, Moebus S, Weinmayr G, Memmesheimer M, Jakobs H, Bröcker-Preuss M, Führer-Sakel D, Möhlenkamp S, Erbel R, Jöckel KH, Hoffmann B, Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study Investigative Group. 2014. Association between source-specific particulate matter air pollution and hs-CRP: local traffic and industrial emissions. Environ Health Perspect 122:703–710; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1307081