title: Air pollution and stroke - an overview of the evidence base.
abstract: Air pollution is being increasingly recognized as a significant risk factor for stroke. There are numerous sources of air pollution including industry, road transport and domestic use of biomass and solid fuels. Early reports of the association between air pollution and stroke come from studies investigating health effects of severe pollution episodes. Several daily time series and case-crossover studies have reported associations with stroke. There is also evidence linking chronic air pollution exposure with stroke and with reduced survival after stroke. A conceptual framework linking air pollution exposure and stroke is proposed. It links acute and chronic exposure to air pollution with pathways to acute and chronic effects on stroke risk. Current evidence regarding potential mechanisms mainly relate to particulate air pollution. Whilst further evidence would be useful, there is already sufficient evidence to support consideration of reduction in air pollution as a preventative measure to reduce the stroke burden globally.
authors: Public Health GIS Unit, School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Regent Court, 30 Regent Street, Sheffield S1 4DA, UK. Electronic address: r.maheswaran@sheffield.ac.uk.
authors: Ravi
authors: R
authors: Maheswaran
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D008131:London / Q000453:epidemiology; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control
keywords: Air pollution; Epidemiology; Stroke