Relationships Between Fine Particulate Air Pollution, Cardiometabolic Disorders, and Cardiovascular Mortality

Abstract

Rationale: Growing evidence suggests that long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) air pollution contributes to risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. There is uncertainty about who are most susceptible. Individuals with underlying cardiometabolic disorders, including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and obesity, may be at greater risk. PM 2.5 pollution may also contribute to cardiometabolic disorders, augmenting CVD risk. Objective: This analysis evaluates relationships between long-term PM 2.5 exposure and cardiometabolic disease on risk of death from CVD and cardiometabolic conditions. Methods and Results: Data on 669 046 participants from the American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study II cohort were linked to modeled PM 2.5 concentrations at geocoded home addresses. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate adjusted hazards ratios for death from CVD and cardiometabolic diseases based on death-certificate information. Effect modification by pre-existing cardiometabolic risk factors on the PM 2.5 –CVD mortality association was examined. PM 2.5 exposure was associated with CVD mortality, with the hazards ratios (95% confidence interval) per 10 μg/m 3 increase in PM 2.5 equal to 1.12 (1.10–1.15). Deaths linked to hypertension and diabetes mellitus (mentioned on death certificate as either primary or contributing cause of death) were also associated with PM 2.5 . There was no consistent evidence of effect modification by cardiometabolic disease risk factors on the PM 2.5 –CVD mortality association. Conclusions: Pollution-induced CVD mortality risk is observed for those with and without existing cardiometabolic disorders. Long-term exposure may also contribute to the development or exacerbation of cardiometabolic disorders, increasing risk of CVD, and cardiometabolic disease mortality.

Short‐Term Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter Air Pollution Is Preferentially Associated With the Risk of ST‐Segment Elevation Acute Coronary Events

“…Odds ratios using both the standard linear and threshold models were estimated for all ACS, STEMI, NSTEMI, UA, and NSTE‐ACS events for all patients and for patients with and without CAD. For comparison purposes, and consistent with reporting from various studies and reviews of the literature,1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 14, 15, 16 odds ratios associated with 10‐μg/m 3 incremental increases in PM 2.5 concentration are presented.…”

“…Various prospective cohort studies of long‐term exposure (years or decades) have found that elevated PM 2.5 exposures are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease mortality3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and may contribute to the initiation and progression of related chronic diseases including atherosclerosis, hypertension, and diabetes 10, 11. The Global Burden of Disease 2010 analysis reported comparative burden of disease risk assessments from 67 risk factors.…”

Exploiting crowdsourced geographic information and GIS for assessment of air pollution exposure during active travel

“…In this study, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) was used to measure levels of air pollution concentrations as it is a common air pollutant used in related studies (Anderson et al, 2012;Pope et al, 2015;Chen et al, 2012;Li et al, 2016b). Although annual mean PM2.5 estimates in 2015 are available in the Air Quality in Scotland (Ricardo Energy & Environment, 2016), the spatial resolution of the PM2.5 concentration data is 1 km × 1 km.…”

“…As the impact of air pollution exposure on health is not as noticeable as that of traffic accidents, people are likely to ignore the harmful effect of air pollution exposure. In fact, air pollution exposure tends to have both a short-term and long-term effects on human health (WHO 2016;Anderson et al, 2012;Lipsett et al, 2011;Pope et al, 2015;Chen et al, 2012;Li et al, 2016;Shah et al, 2015).…”

A Statistical Analysis of the Relationship between Brown Haze and Surface Air Pollution Levels on Respiratory Hospital Admissions in Auckland, New Zealand

“…Research has linked poor air quality with numerous adverse health outcomes, including but not limited to, cardiovascular disease [1][2][3], myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular disease [4,5], respiratory conditions requiring hospital admission [6,7] and lung cancer [8,9]. Poor air quality and adverse health outcomes are not geographically isolated events, with major studies carried out in North America [10,11], South America [12], Europe [13], Eastern Asia [14] and India [15], all reporting positive associations.…”