Chronic Exposure to Fine Particles and Mortality: An Extended Follow-up of the Harvard Six Cities Study from 1974 to 2009

By J. Lepeule, Francine Laden, D. Dockery, Jasmine Schwartz. Environmental Health Perspectives, 2012

982 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Background: Epidemiologic studies have reported associations between fine particles (aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 µm; PM2.5) and mortality. However, concerns have been raised regarding the sensitivity of the results to model specifications, lower exposures, and averaging time. Objective: We addressed these issues using 11 additional years of follow-up of the Harvard Six Cities study, incorporating recent lower exposures. Methods: We replicated the previously applied Cox regression, and examined different time lags, the shape of the concentration–response relationship using penalized splines, and changes in the slope of the relation over time. We then conducted Poisson survival analysis with time-varying effects for smoking, sex, and education. Results: Since 2001, average PM2.5 levels, for all six cities, were < 18 µg/m3. Each increase in PM2.5 (10 µg/m3) was associated with an adjusted increased risk of all-cause mortality (PM2.5 average on previous year) of 14% [95% confidence interval (CI): 7, 22], and with 26% (95% CI: 14, 40) and 37% (95% CI: 7, 75) increases in cardiovascular and lung-cancer mortality (PM2.5 average of three previous years), respectively. The concentration–response relationship was linear down to PM2.5 concentrations of 8 µg/m3. Mortality rate ratios for PM2.5 fluctuated over time, but without clear trends despite a substantial drop in the sulfate fraction. Poisson models produced similar results. Conclusions: These results suggest that further public policy efforts that reduce fine particulate matter air pollution are likely to have continuing public health benefits.

Subfields: Environmental Engineering, Global and Planetary Change, Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/13ce014c2d9f76cba74b8c080403f105bb80b356

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Citations in the corpus

Systematic review and meta-analysis of the adverse health effects of ambient PM2.5 and PM10 pollution in the Chinese population. (2015, background): “5) on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and respiratory disease (RD) (Samoli et al., 2005; Lepeule et al., 2012; Krewski et al., 2009; Kloog et al., 2014).”
A retrospective analysis of benefits and impacts of U.S. renewable portfolio standards (2016, background): “Epidemiological studies have shown a causal association between increased mortality and morbidity and exposure to air pollution; for examples of the association with mortality, see Dockery et al. 1993; Krewski et al. 2009; Lepeule et al. 2012.”
100% Clean and Renewable Wind, Water, and Sunlight All-Sector Energy Roadmaps for 139 Countries of the World (2017, background): “5 from Pope et al. (2002) are applied to all ages as in Lepeule et al. (2012) rather than to those over 30 years old as in Pope et al. (2002).”
Outdoor Particulate Matter Exposure and Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2014, methodology): “2011), Harvard Six Cities (Lepeule et al. 2012), Canadian National Enhanced Cancer Surveillance System (Hystad et al.”
Air pollution in China: Status and spatiotemporal variations. (2017, background): “…associated with increased risks of mortality and morbidity worldwide (Cao et al., 2011; Chen et al., 2016; Dockery et al., 1993; Guan et al., 2016; Kampa and Castanas, 2008; Lepeule et al., 2012; Song et al., 2017; West et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2014a; Zhou et al., 2014). e by David Carpenter.”
Review of evidence on health aspects of air pollution – REVIHAAP Project. Technical Report. World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe 2013 (2013, background): “clinical studies having not been performed near sources of industrial emissions. In other words, the evidence is mainly derived from PM samples of which PM composition has been determined and used for source apportionment. For example, Steerenberg et al. (2006) identified, in a small data set, that ”
Global premature mortality due to anthropogenic outdoor air pollution and the contribution of past climate change (2013, background): “5 studies (Hoek et al 2002, Lepeule et al 2012), and it is the only study that reports long-term ozone mortality (Jerrett et al 2009).”