Residential Exposure to Traffic Is Associated With Coronary Atherosclerosis

Abstract

Background-Long-term exposure to fine-particulate-matter (PM 2.5 ) air pollution may accelerate the development and progression of atherosclerosis. We investigated the associations of long-term residential exposure to traffic and fine particulate matter with the degree of coronary atherosclerosis. Methods and Results-We used baseline data on 4494 participants (age 45 to 74 years) from the German Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study, a population-based, prospective cohort study that started in 2000. To assess exposure differences, distances between residences and major roads were calculated, and annual fine particulate matter concentrations, derived from a small-scale dispersion model, were assigned to each address. The main outcome was coronary artery calcification (CAC) assessed by electron-beam computed tomography. We evaluated the association between air pollution and CAC with logistic and linear regression analyses, controlling for individual level risk factors of coronary atherosclerosis. Compared with participants living Ͼ200 m away from a major road, participants living within 50, 51 to 100, and 101 to 200 m had odds ratios of 1.63 (95% CI, 1.14 to 2.33), 1.34 (95% CI, 1.00 to 1.79), and 1.08 (95% CI, 0.85 to 1.39), respectively, for a high CAC (CAC above the age-and gender-specific 75th percentile). A reduction in the distance between the residence and a major road by half was associated with a 7.0% (95% CI, 0.1 to 14.4) higher CAC. Fine particulate matter exposure was associated with CAC only in subjects who had not been working full-time for at least 5 years. Conclusions-Long-term residential exposure to high traffic is associated with the degree of coronary atherosclerosis.

Air Pollution Exposures and Circulating Biomarkers of Effect in a Susceptible Population: Clues to Potential Causal Component mixtures and mechanisms

“…Platelet selectin is also critical to the development of neointimal formation after arterial injury (Wang et al 2005). Potentially relevant findings by two epidemiologic studies are evidence of increased risks of athero sclerosis development with exposure to traffic related air pollution near the home (Hoffmann et al 2007;Künzli et al 2005).…”

Characterizing Urban Traffic Exposures Using Transportation Planning Tools: An Illustrated Methodology for Health Researchers

“…34 Coronary heart disease risks have been reported to increase with levels of traffic, 11,[35][36][37] as have the more discrete risks of acute myocardial infarction 10,38,39 and atherosclerosis. 40 Several studies indicate that older (65+) adults are at greater risk of the adverse effects of traffic exposures. 21,41,42 Traffic density analyses provide a comprehensive and multi-directional assessment of airborne environmental burdens from roads within a certain radius of a residence.…”

“…Several studies have reported adverse health effects associated with residing or attending school near "interstates, highways, and major arterials" 7,37 or near "major roads" with vehicle counts that ranged from 10,000 to 100,000. 35,40,49 Major arterials can range from 15,000 to 30,000 vehicles per day. These studies did not report the number or percentage of subjects living near the lower versus higher range of traffic volumes.…”

“…Studies that use proximity as a surrogate for near-roadway exposures often use a dichotomous exposure variable for living inside or outside a specified buffer zone of a roadway. Buffer distances typically range between 50 and 300 m. 30,35,36,40 Traffic-level data layers were developed to include 100-and 200-m buffers measured from the edge of roadways with traffic volumes over 20,000 vehicles per day. Centerline data for the buffers were based on the MassGIS Executive Office of Transportation roads data layer.…”

Health Through the Urban Lens

“…15 Poor air quality, for example, is tightly related to death rates from respiratory diseases, 15 probably to the epidemics of pediatric asthma that characterize almost all cities in this country and throughout the developed world, and possibly to acceleration of atherosclerosis. 16 An additional concern is the urban "heat island" effect; cities tend to be warmer than surrounding countrysides, under some circumstances as much as 11°C warmer, due to the absorption of heat by dark surfaces and the limited ability of deforested urban areas to cool the air through transpiration. Heat and high ambient air temperatures have been shown to be associated with numbers of hospitalizations and deaths each year, especially among socioeconomically disadvantaged and socially isolated urban elderly 17 and those with cardiovascular or pulmonary disease, psychiatric illness, or reduced capacity for self-care.…”