title: Short-term effects of fine particulate matter pollution on daily health events in Latin America: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Ambient air pollution is among the leading risks for health worldwide and by 2050 will largely overcome deaths due to unsafe sanitation and malaria, but local evidence from Latin America (LA) is scarce. We aimed to summarize the effect of short-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) on morbidity and mortality in Latin America and evaluate evidence coverage and quality, using systematic review and meta-analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The comprehensive search (six online databases and hand-searching) identified studies investigating the short-term associations between PM2.5and daily health events in LA. Two reviewers independently accessed the internal validity of the studies and used random-effect models in the meta-analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We retrieved 1628 studies. Nine were elected for the qualitative analysis and seven for the quantitative analyses. Each 10 µg/m3increments in daily PM2.5concentrations was significantly associated with increased risk for respiratory and cardiovascular mortality in all-ages (polled RR = 1.02, 95% CI, 1.02-1.02 and RR = 1.01, 95% CI , 1.01-1.02, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Short-term exposure to PM2.5in LA is significantly associated with increased risk for respiratory and cardiovascular mortality. Evidence is concentrated in few cities and some presented high risk of bias.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Experimental Air Pollution (LIM05), Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. laisfajer@gmail.com.|Institute for Advanced Studies of the University of São Paulo-IEA, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. laisfajer@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Laís
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fajersztajn
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Experimental Air Pollution (LIM05), Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.|Institute for Advanced Studies of the University of São Paulo-IEA, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Saldiva
authors.affiliation: Collective Health Pos-Graduation Program, Catholic University of Santos, Santos, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luiz Alberto Amador
authors.initials: LAA
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Victor Figueiredo
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Leite
authors.affiliation: Health Technology Assessment Unit, Institute of Health Education and Science, German Hospital Oswaldo Cruz, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Anna Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Buehler
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D007843:Latin America / Q000453:epidemiology; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D012306:Risk
chemical_list: D052638:Particulate Matter
keywords: Air pollution; Fine particulate matter; Latin America; Mortality; PM2.5; Particulate matter; Systematic review and meta-analysis