Short-term effects of ambient particles on cardiovascular and respiratory mortality.
BACKGROUND
Particulate air pollution is associated with increased mortality. There is a need for European results from multicountry databases concerning cause-specific mortality to obtain more accurate effect estimates.


METHODS
We report the estimated effects of ambient particle concentrations (black smoke and particulate matter less than 10 mum [PM10]) on cardiovascular and respiratory mortality, from 29 European cities, within the Air Pollution and Health: a European Approach (APHEA2) project. We applied a 2-stage hierarchical modeling approach assessing city-specific effects first and then overall effects. City characteristics were considered as potential effect modifiers.


RESULTS
An increase in PM10 by 10 microg/m (lag 0 + 1) was associated with increases of 0.76% (95% confidence interval = 0.47 to 1.05%) in cardiovascular deaths and 0.58% (0.21 to 0.95%) in respiratory deaths. The same increase in black smoke was associated with increases of 0.62% (0.35 to 0.90%) and 0.84% (0.11 to 1.57%), respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
These effect estimates are appropriate for health impact assessment and standard-setting procedures.
Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece.
Antonis
A
Analitis
Klea
K
Katsouyanni
Konstantina
K
Dimakopoulou
Evangelia
E
Samoli
Aristidis K
AK
Nikoloulopoulos
Yannis
Y
Petasakis
Giota
G
Touloumi
Joel
J
Schwartz
Hugh Ross
HR
Anderson
Koldo
K
Cambra
Francesco
F
Forastiere
Denis
D
Zmirou
Judith M
JM
Vonk
Luke
L
Clancy
Bohumir
B
Kriz
Janos
J
Bobvos
Juha
J
Pekkanen
D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D010316:Particle Size; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000401:mortality*
D000393:Air Pollutants