Risk Perception and COVID-19 Cori, Liliana; Bianchi, Fabrizio; Cadum, Ennio ...
International journal of environmental research and public health,
04/2020, Volume:
17, Issue:
9
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The call for articles for the
Special Issue "Research about risk perception in the Environmental Health domain" was proposed at the beginning of 2020 as part of multidisciplinary efforts to ...understand the complex interactions between people and the environment ....
Evidence on the short-term effects of fine and coarse particles on morbidity in Europe is scarce and inconsistent.
We aimed to estimate the association between daily concentrations of fine and coarse ...particles with hospitalizations for cardiovascular and respiratory conditions in eight Southern European cities, within the MED-PARTICLES project.
City-specific Poisson models were fitted to estimate associations of daily concentrations of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5), ≤ 10 μm (PM10), and their difference (PM2.5-10) with daily counts of emergency hospitalizations for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. We derived pooled estimates from random-effects meta-analysis and evaluated the robustness of results to co-pollutant exposure adjustment and model specification. Pooled concentration-response curves were estimated using a meta-smoothing approach.
We found significant associations between all PM fractions and cardiovascular admissions. Increases of 10 μg/m3 in PM2.5, 6.3 μg/m3 in PM2.5-10, and 14.4 μg/m3 in PM10 (lag 0-1 days) were associated with increases in cardiovascular admissions of 0.51% (95% CI: 0.12, 0.90%), 0.46% (95% CI: 0.10, 0.82%), and 0.53% (95% CI: 0.06, 1.00%), respectively. Stronger associations were estimated for respiratory hospitalizations, ranging from 1.15% (95% CI: 0.21, 2.11%) for PM10 to 1.36% (95% CI: 0.23, 2.49) for PM2.5 (lag 0-5 days).
PM2.5 and PM2.5-10 were positively associated with cardiovascular and respiratory admissions in eight Mediterranean cities. Information on the short-term effects of different PM fractions on morbidity in Southern Europe will be useful to inform European policies on air quality standards.
Background: An increasing number of people are exposed to aircraft and road traffic noise. Hypertension is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and even a small contribution in risk ...from environmental factors may have a major impact on public health. Objectives: The HYENA (Hypertension and Exposure to Noise near Airports) study aimed to assess the relations between noise from aircraft or road traffic near airports and the risk of hypertension. Methods: We measured blood pressure and collected data on health, socioeconomic, and lifestyle factors, including diet and physical activity, via questionnaire at home visits for 4,861 persons 45-70 years of age, who had lived at least 5 years near any of six major European airports. We assessed noise exposure using detailed models with a resolution of 1 dB (5 dB for United Kingdom road traffic noise), and a spatial resolution of 250 x 250 m for aircraft and 10 x 10 m for road traffic noise. Results: We found significant exposure-response relationships between night-time aircraft as well as average daily road traffic noise exposure and risk of hypertension after adjustment for major confounders. For night-time aircraft noise, a 10-dB increase in exposure was associated with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.14 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.01-1.29. The exposure-response relationships were similar for road traffic noise and stronger for men with an OR of 1.54 (95% CI, 0.99-2.40) in the highest exposure category (> 65 dB; $P_{{\rm{trend}}} = \,0.008$ = 0.008). Conclusions: Our results indicate excess risks of hypertension related to long-term noise exposure, primarily for night-time aircraft noise and daily average road traffic noise.
Episode analyses of heat waves have documented a comparatively higher impact on mortality than on morbidity (hospital admissions) in European cities. The evidence from daily time series studies is ...scarce and inconsistent.
To evaluate the impact of high environmental temperatures on hospital admissions during April to September in 12 European cities participating in the Assessment and Prevention of Acute Health Effects of Weather Conditions in Europe (PHEWE) project.
For each city, time series analysis was used to model the relationship between maximum apparent temperature (lag 0-3 days) and daily hospital admissions for cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory causes by age (all ages, 65-74 age group, and 75+ age group), and the city-specific estimates were pooled for two geographical groupings of cities.
For respiratory admissions, there was a positive association that was heterogeneous between cities. For a 1 degrees C increase in maximum apparent temperature above a threshold, respiratory admissions increased by +4.5% (95% confidence interval, 1.9-7.3) and +3.1% (95% confidence interval, 0.8-5.5) in the 75+ age group in Mediterranean and North-Continental cities, respectively. In contrast, the association between temperature and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular admissions tended to be negative and did not reach statistical significance.
High temperatures have a specific impact on respiratory admissions, particularly in the elderly population, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Why high temperature increases cardiovascular mortality but not cardiovascular admissions is also unclear. The impact of extreme heat events on respiratory admissions is expected to increase in European cities as a result of global warming and progressive population aging.
The start-up of the Turin municipal solid waste incineration plant (2013) was accompanied by surveillance of health effects, which included a human biomonitoring campaign. Here we present the results ...of the risk perception survey of local residents before the plant went into operation.
The survey sample was 394 local residents: 198 residing near the plant (exposed group) and 196 residing in an area distant from the plant site (unexposed group). The survey questionnaire investigated awareness of environmental and health issues, including a section on the perception of environmental health risks. Multivariate Poisson regressions were performed to determine the differences in risk perception between the two groups (exposed vs. unexposed).
The exposed group was more concerned about natural hazards (prevalence ratio PR 1.61; 95% confidence interval CI 0.99-2.61), anthropogenic hazards (PR 1.35; 95% CI 1.03-1.77), and waste management (PR 1.19; 95% CI 0.94-1.50). There were no significant differences in opinions about environmental pollution-related diseases between the two groups, though the exposed considered themselves to be at risk for developing these diseases. The survey population placed its trust more in health care providers than in any other category.
The risk perception survey questionnaire yielded data that enabled a better understanding and interpretation of the social context: residents living near the incineration plant were more concerned than those living distant from it, especially about anthropogenic hazards. This information was subsequently incorporated into the design the communication tools.
Few studies have considered aircraft noise annoyance and noise sensitivity in analyses of the health effects of aircraft noise, especially in relation to medication use. This study aims to ...investigate the moderating and mediating role of these two factors in the relationship between aircraft noise levels and medication use among 5860 residents of ten European airports included in the HYENA and DEBATS studies.
Information on aircraft noise annoyance, noise sensitivity, medication use, and demographic, socio-economic and lifestyle factors was collected during a face-to-face interview at home. Medication was coded according to the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification. Outdoor aircraft noise exposure was estimated by linking the participant's home address to noise contours using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) methods. Logistic regressions with adjustment for potential confounding factors were used. In addition, Baron and Kenny's recommendations were followed to investigate the moderating and mediating effects of aircraft noise annoyance and noise sensitivity.
A significant association was found between aircraft noise levels at night and antihypertensive medication only in the UK (OR = 1.43, 95%CI 1.19-1.73 for a 10 dB(A)-increase in L
). No association was found with other medications. Aircraft noise annoyance was significantly associated with the use of antihypertensive medication (OR = 1.33, 95%CI 1.14-1.56), anxiolytics (OR = 1.48, 95%CI 1.08-2.05), hypnotics and sedatives (OR = 1.60, 95%CI 1.07-2.39), and antasthmatics (OR = 1.44, 95%CI 1.07-1.96), with no difference between countries. Noise sensitivity was significantly associated with almost all medications, with the exception of the use of antasthmatics, showing an increase in ORs with the level of noise sensitivity, with differences in ORs among countries only for the use of antihypertensive medication. The results also suggested a mediating role of aircraft noise annoyance and a modifying role of both aircraft noise annoyance and noise sensitivity in the association between aircraft noise levels and medication use.
The present study is consistent with the results of the small number of studies available to date suggesting that both aircraft noise annoyance and noise sensitivity should be taken into account in analyses of the health effects of exposure to aircraft noise.
Background: Although numerous studies have provided evidence of an association between ambient air pollution and acute cardiac morbidity, little is known regarding susceptibility factors. Methods: We ...conducted a time-stratified case-crossover study in 9 Italian cities between 2001 and 2005 to estimate the short-term association between airborne particles with aerodynamic diameter <10 μm (PM 10 ) and cardiac hospital admissions, and to identify susceptible groups. We estimated associations between daily PM 10 and all cardiac diseases, acute coronary syndrome, arrhythmias and conduction disorders, and heart failure for 167,895 hospitalized subjects ≥65 years of age. Effect modification was assessed for age, sex, and a priori-defined hospital diagnoses (mainly cardiovascular and respiratory conditions) from the previous 2 years as susceptibility factors. Results: The increased risk of cardiac admissions was 1.0% (95% confidence interval CI = 0.7% to 1.4%) per 10 μg/m 3 PM 10 at lag 0. The effect was slightly higher for heart failure (lag 0, 1.4% 0.7% to 2.0%) and acute coronary syndrome (lag 0-1, 1.1% 0.4% to 1.9%) than for arrhythmias (lag 0, 1.0% 0.2% to 1.8%). Women were at higher risk of heart failure (2.0% 1.2% to 2.8%; test for interaction, P = 0.022), whereas men were at higher risk of arrhythmias (1.9% 0.8% to 3.0%; test for interaction, P = 0.020). Subjects aged 75-84 years were at higher risk of admissions for coronary events (2.6% 1.5% to 3.8%; test for interaction, P = 0.001). None of the identified chronic conditions was a clear marker of susceptibility. Conclusions: An important effect of PM 10 on hospitalizations for cardiac diseases was found in Italian cities. Sex and older age were susceptibility factors.
Background An association between occurrence of wildfires and mortality in the exposed population has been observed in several studies with controversial results for cause-specific mortality. In the ...Mediterranean area, forest fires usually occur during spring–summer, they overlap with Saharan outbreaks, are associated with increased temperature and their health effects are probably due to an increase in particulate matter. Aim and methods We analysed the effects of wildfires and particulate matter (PM10) on mortality in 10 southern European cities in Spain, France, Italy and Greece (2003–2010), using satellite data for exposure assessment and Poisson regression models, simulating a case-crossover approach. Results We found that smoky days were associated with increased cardiovascular mortality (lag 0–5, 6.29%, 95% CIs 1.00 to 11.85). When the effect of PM10 (per 10 µg/m3) was evaluated, there was an increase in natural mortality (0.49%), cardiovascular mortality (0.65%) and respiratory mortality (2.13%) on smoke-free days, but PM10-related mortality was higher on smoky days (natural mortality up to 1.10% and respiratory mortality up to 3.90%) with a suggestion of effect modification for cardiovascular mortality (3.42%, p value for effect modification 0.055), controlling for Saharan dust advections. Conclusions Smoke is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality in urban residents, and PM10 on smoky days has a larger effect on cardiovascular and respiratory mortality than on other days.
In the HYENA study (HYpertension and Exposure to Noise near Airports) noise annoyances due to aircraft and road traffic noise were assessed in subjects that lived in the vicinity of 6 major European ...airports using the 11-point ICBEN scale (International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise). A distinction was made between the annoyance during the day and during the night.
L
den and
L
night were considered as indicators of noise exposure. Pooled data analyses showed clear exposure–response relationships between the noise level and the noise annoyance for both exposures. The exposure–response curves for road noise were congruent with the EU standard curves used for predicting the number of highly noise annoyed subjects in European communities. Annoyance ratings due to aircraft noise, however, were higher than predicted by the EU standard curves. The data supports other findings suggesting that the people's attitude towards aircraft noise has changed over the years, and that the EU standard curve for aircraft noise should be modified.
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