Long-Term Effects of Traffic-Related Air Pollution on Mortality in a Dutch Cohort (NLCS-AIR Study)

By R. Beelen, Gerard Hoek, P. A. van den Brandt, R. Goldbohm, P. Fischer, L. Schouten, Michael Jerrett, Edward Hughes, B. Armstrong, B. Brunekreef. Environmental Health Perspectives, 2007

622 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Background Several studies have found an effect on mortality of between-city contrasts in long-term exposure to air pollution. The effect of within-city contrasts is still poorly understood. Objectives We studied the association between long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution and mortality in a Dutch cohort. Methods We used data from an ongoing cohort study on diet and cancer with 120,852 subjects who were followed from 1987 to 1996. Exposure to black smoke (BS), nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter ≤mu;M2.5), as well as various exposure variables related to traffic, were estimated at the home address. We conducted Cox analyses in the full cohort adjusting for age, sex, smoking, and area-level socioeconomic status. Results Traffic intensity on the nearest road was independently associated with mortality. Relative risks (95% confidence intervals) for a 10-μg/m3 increase in BS concentrations (difference between 5th and 95th percentile) were 1.05 (1.00–1.11) for natural cause, 1.04 (0.95–1.13) for cardiovascular, 1.22 (0.99–1.50) for respiratory, 1.03 (0.88–1.20) for lung cancer, and 1.04 (0.97–1.12) for mortality other than cardiovascular, respiratory, or lung cancer. Results were similar for NO2 and PM2.5, but no associations were found for SO2. Conclusions Traffic-related air pollution and several traffic exposure variables were associated with mortality in the full cohort. Relative risks were generally small. Associations between natural-cause and respiratory mortality were statistically significant for NO2 and BS. These results add to the evidence that long-term exposure to ambient air pollution is associated with increased mortality.

Subfields: Atmospheric Science, Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Transportation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9b3603923bc165c02b8e26f2c622abbd32e1297d

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Atmospheric Science

1. B. Festy

In Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

1. Yaron Ogen
2. B. Festy
3. Annette Peters
4. A. Schneider
5. Francine Laden
6. S. Breitner
7. J. Samet
8. Gerard Hoek

In Transportation

1. B. Festy
2. Anna Goodman
3. James A. Cheshire

Citations in the corpus

• Review of evidence on health aspects of air pollution – REVIHAAP Project. Technical Report. World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe 2013 (2013, background): “The large Dutch study by Beelen et al. (2008a) evaluated several pollutants, including NO2, PM2.”
• Health effects of particulate air pollution: A review of epidemiological evidence (2011, background): “Some authors examined BS as exposure variable (Table 3) and found positive but not always significant associations (Beelen et al., 2008; Brunekreef et al., 2009; Elliott et al., 2007; Filleul et al., 2005; Hoek et al., 2002; Le Tertre et al., 2002; Pekkanen et al., 2000; Poloniecki et al., 1997; Sam”
• Outdoor Particulate Matter Exposure and Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2014, background): “We identified 17 cohort studies (Beelen et al. 2008; Beeson et al. 1998; Cao et al. 2011; Carey et al. 2013; Cesaroni et al. 2013; Hales et al. 2012; Hart et al. 2011; Heinrich et al. 2013; Jerrett et al. 2013; Katanoda et al. 2011; Krewski et al. 2009; Lepeule et al. 2012; Lipsett et al. 2011;…”
• Effects of air pollution on human health and practical measures for prevention in Iran (2016, neutral): “[72‐77] Asthma is a respiratory disease which may be developed as a result of exposure to air toxicants.”
• Assessing nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels as a contributing factor to coronavirus (COVID-19) fatality (2020, positive): “High NO 2 concentration is significantly associated with respiratory mortality (Beelen et al., 2008; Chen et al., 2007; Hoek et al., 2013) and is also responsible for generating some harmful secondary pollutants such as nitric acid (HNO 3 ) and ozone (O 3 ) (Khoder, 2002) .”
• Long-term air pollution exposure and cardio- respiratory mortality: a review (2013, background): “5 28 (23–37) Address (LUR) 6 (−3, 16) 4 (−10, 21) [23]”
• A Case-crossover Study: The Effects of Heat Waves on Daily Mortality Caused by Respiratory Disease in Beijing (2011, methodology): “We estimated the effect of shifting mode using two major long-term mortality cohort studies (Beelen et al. 2008; Pope et al. 2002), making assumptions about the contribution of traffic participation to the total inhaled dose of PM2.”
• Black Carbon as an Additional Indicator of the Adverse Health Effects of Airborne Particles Compared with PM10 and PM2.5 (2011, methodology): “5:EC for the studies by Smith et al. (2009) and Beelen et al. (2008) were 14 and 9, respectively, and we estimated a ratio of about 5 based on graphical data presented for the study by Filleul et al. (2005).”