Occupational exposure to particles and incidence of acute myocardial infarction and other ischaemic heart disease.
BACKGROUND
Ambient particulate air pollution has been linked to cardiovascular disease. Occupational particle exposure levels may be several times higher than ambient levels but has been less studied.


OBJECTIVE
The authors investigated the association between occupational exposure to particles and the incidence of ischaemic heart disease (IHD).


METHODS
The cohort included all manual workers in the Swedish national census of 1980 with information on demographic data and occupation. Information on hospital admissions for acute myocardial infarction or other IHDs and cause of death were obtained from nation-wide registers. A job-exposure matrix for exposure to small (<1 μm) and large (>1 μm) particles was developed. HRs were calculated with Cox regression with adjustment for sex, age, socioeconomic group and urban/rural residential area.


RESULTS
Exposure to small particles was associated with an increased HR for acute myocardial infarction of 1.12 (95% CI 1.09 to 1.15), and HR for exposure to large particles was 1.14 (95% CI 1.10 to 1.18). The association was somewhat stronger for workers exposed to small particles for more than 5 years, 1.21 (95% CI 1.11 to 1.31), but no trend with exposure intensity was found. The risk associated with exposure to small particles was higher among women than among men, 1.30 (95% CI 1.12 to 1.51) and 1.10 (95% CI 1.07 to 1.14), respectively. Findings were essentially similar for other IHDs.


CONCLUSIONS
This explorative study gives some support to the hypothesis that occupational exposure to particles increases the risk of acute myocardial infarction and other IHD. The findings must be interpreted cautiously due to lack of smoking data.
Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. pernilla.wiebert@ki.se
Pernilla
P
Wiebert
Maria
M
Lönn
Karin
K
Fremling
Maria
M
Feychting
Bengt
B
Sjögren
Gun
G
Nise
T
T
Kauppinen
Nils
N
Plato
Per
P
Gustavsson
D000208:Acute Disease; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010316:Particle Size; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology
D000393:Air Pollutants; D052638:Particulate Matter