Background: Although serious health effects associated with particulate matter (PM) with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 μm (PM10) and ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5; fine fraction) are documented in many studies, the effects of coarse PM (PM2.5–10) are still under debate.Objective: In this study, we estimated the effects of short-term exposure of PM2.5–10 on daily mortality in Stockholm, Sweden.Method: We collected data on daily mortality for the years 2000 through 2008. Concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, ozone, and carbon monoxide were measured simultaneously in central Stockholm. We used additive Poisson regression models to examine the association between daily mortality and PM2.5–10 on the day of death and the day before. Effect estimates were adjusted for other pollutants (two-pollutant models) during different seasons.Results: We estimated a 1.68% increase [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.20%, 3.15%] in daily mortality per 10-μg/m3 increase in PM2.5–10 (single-pollutant model). The association with PM2.5–10 was stronger for November through May, when road dust is most important (1.69% increase; 95% CI: 0.21%, 3.17%), compared with the rest of the year (1.31% increase; 95% CI: –2.08%, 4.70%), although the difference was not statistically significant. When adjusted for other pollutants, particularly PM2.5, the effect estimates per 10 μg/m3 for PM2.5–10 decreased slightly but were still higher than corresponding effect estimates for PM2.5.Conclusions: Our analysis shows an increase in daily mortality associated with elevated urban background levels of PM2.5–10. Regulation of PM2.5–10 should be considered, along with actions to specifically reduce PM2.5–10 emissions, especially road dust suspension, in cities.
The present study aimed to investigate how the heat-related increase in deaths in summer and the extent of mortality displacement depend on influenza and other categories of mortality in the previous winter, which when low leaves a greater pool of susceptible individuals.Mortality data from Stockholm, Sweden, from 1990-2002 were stratified into a summer period and a winter period. A Poisson regression model was established for the daily mortality in the summer, with temperature and confounders as explanatory variables. In addition, indicators of total, respiratory, cardiovascular and influenza mortality of the winter period were incorporated as effect modifiers in the summer model, and lagged effects in strata defined by indicators were studied.A high rate of respiratory as well as cardiovascular mortality in winter reduced the heat effect the following summer, and influenza mortality tended to do so as well. The cumulative effect per uC increase was 0.95% below and 0.89% above a threshold (21.3uC) after a winter with low cardiovascular and respiratory mortality, but -0.23% below and 0.21% above the threshold after a winter with high cardiovascular and respiratory mortality.The current study shows that high respiratory, cardiovascular and influenza mortality in winter leads to lower temperature effects in the following summer. It also suggests that persons for whom influenza may be fatal are often also susceptible to heat and this subgroup might, therefore, not benefit as much as expected from influenza vaccinations.
Volcanic ash contributed significantly to particulate matter (PM) in Iceland following the eruptions in Eyjafjallajökull 2010 and Grímsvötn 2011. This study aimed to investigate the association between different PM sources and emergency hospital visits for cardiorespiratory causes from 2007 to 2012. Indicators of PM10 sources; “volcanic ash”, “dust storms”, or “other sources” (traffic, fireworks, and re-suspension) on days when PM10 exceeded the daily air quality guideline value of 50 µg/m3 were entered into generalized additive models, adjusted for weather, time trend and co-pollutants. The average number of daily emergency hospital visits was 10.5. PM10 exceeded the air quality guideline value 115 out of 2191 days; 20 days due to volcanic ash, 14 due to dust storms (two days had both dust storm and ash contribution) and 83 due to other sources. High PM10 levels from volcanic ash tended to be significantly associated with the emergency hospital visits; estimates ranged from 4.8% (95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.6, 9.2%) per day of exposure in unadjusted models to 7.3% (95% CI: −0.4, 15.5%) in adjusted models. Dust storms were not consistently associated with daily emergency hospital visits and other sources tended to show a negative association. We found some evidence indicating that volcanic ash particles were more harmful than particles from other sources, but the results were inconclusive and should be interpreted with caution.
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