Objectives
Due to their small size, ultrafine particles (UFP) are believed to exert higher toxicity than larger particles. As numerous studies on health effects of UFP have been published since the ...last systematic review in 2013, we aim to systematically review the new literature.
Methods
We searched MEDLINE and the specialized LUDOK database for studies published between 01.01.2011 and 11.05.2017 investigating health effects of ambient air pollution-related UFP. We included epidemiologic studies containing UFP measures and quantifiable measures of associations. Relevant data were extracted on the basis of previously developed evaluation criteria.
Results
We identified 85 original studies, conducting short-term (
n
= 75) and long-term (
n
= 10) investigations. Panel (
n
= 32), scripted exposure with predefined settings (
n
= 16) or time series studies (
n
= 11) were most frequent. Thirty-four studies adjusted for at least one other pollutant. Most consistent associations were identified for short-term effects on pulmonary/systemic inflammation, heart rate variability and blood pressure.
Conclusions
The evidence suggests adverse short-term associations with inflammatory and cardiovascular changes, which may be at least partly independent of other pollutants. For the other studied health outcomes, the evidence on independent health effects of UFP remains inconclusive or insufficient.
Air pollution contributes to the premature deaths of millions of people each year around the world, and air quality problems are growing in many developing nations. While past policy efforts have ...succeeded in reducing particulate matter and trace gases in North America and Europe, adverse health effects are found at even these lower levels of air pollution. Future policy actions will benefit from improved understanding of the interactions and health effects of different chemical species and source categories. Achieving this new understanding requires air pollution scientists and engineers to work increasingly closely with health scientists. In particular, research is needed to better understand the chemical and physical properties of complex air pollutant mixtures, and to use new observations provided by satellites, advanced in situ measurement techniques, and distributed micro monitoring networks, coupled with models, to better characterize air pollution exposure for epidemiological and toxicological research, and to better quantify the effects of specific source sectors and mitigation strategies.
Land use regression (LUR) has not been applied thus far to ambient alkylbenzenes in highly polluted megacities. We advanced LUR models for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, p-xylene, m-xylene, o-xylene ...(BTEX), and total BTEX using measurement based estimates of annual means at 179 sites in Tehran megacity, Iran. Overall, 520 predictors were evaluated, such as The Weather Research and Forecasting Model meteorology predictions, emission inventory, and several new others. The final models with R2 values ranging from 0.64 for p-xylene to 0.70 for benzene were mainly driven by traffic-related variables but the proximity to sewage treatment plants was present in all models indicating a major local source of alkylbenzenes not used in any previous study. We further found that large buffers are needed to explain annual mean concentrations of alkylbenzenes in complex situations of a megacity. About 83% of Tehran’s surface had benzene concentrations above air quality standard of 5 μg/m3 set by European Union and Iranian Government. Toluene was the predominant alkylbenzene, and the most polluted area was the city center. Our analyses on differences between wealthier and poorer areas also showed somewhat higher concentrations for the latter. This is the largest LUR study to predict all BTEX species in a megacity.
Summary Background Acute myocardial infarction is triggered by various factors, such as physical exertion, stressful events, heavy meals, or increases in air pollution. However, the importance and ...relevance of each trigger are uncertain. We compared triggers of myocardial infarction at an individual and population level. Methods We searched PubMed and the Web of Science citation databases to identify studies of triggers of non-fatal myocardial infarction to calculate population attributable fractions (PAF). When feasible, we did a meta-regression analysis for studies of the same trigger. Findings Of the epidemiologic studies reviewed, 36 provided sufficient details to be considered. In the studied populations, the exposure prevalence for triggers in the relevant control time window ranged from 0·04% for cocaine use to 100% for air pollution. The reported odds ratios (OR) ranged from 1·05 to 23·7. Ranking triggers from the highest to the lowest OR resulted in the following order: use of cocaine, heavy meal, smoking of marijuana, negative emotions, physical exertion, positive emotions, anger, sexual activity, traffic exposure, respiratory infections, coffee consumption, air pollution (based on a difference of 30 μg/m3 in particulate matter with a diameter <10 μm PM10 ). Taking into account the OR and the prevalences of exposure, the highest PAF was estimated for traffic exposure (7·4%), followed by physical exertion (6·2%), alcohol (5·0%), coffee (5·0%), a difference of 30 μg/m3 in PM10 (4·8%), negative emotions (3·9%), anger (3·1%), heavy meal (2·7%), positive emotions (2·4%), sexual activity (2·2%), cocaine use (0·9%), marijuana smoking (0·8%) and respiratory infections (0·6%). Interpretation In view of both the magnitude of the risk and the prevalence in the population, air pollution is an important trigger of myocardial infarction, it is of similar magnitude (PAF 5–7%) as other well accepted triggers such as physical exertion, alcohol, and coffee. Our work shows that ever-present small risks might have considerable public health relevance. Funding The research on air pollution and health at Hasselt University is supported by a grant from the Flemish Scientific Fund ( FWO, Krediet aan navorsers/G.0873.11 ), tUL-impulse financing, and bijzonder onderzoeksfonds (BOF) and at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven by the sustainable development programme of BELSPO (Belgian Science Policy).
Lower respiratory diseases are the most frequent causes of hospital admission in children worldwide, particularly in developing countries. Daily levels of air pollution are associated with lower ...respiratory diseases, as documented in many time–series studies. However, investigations in low-and-middle-income countries, such as Vietnam, remain sparse.
This study investigated the short-term association of ambient air pollution with daily counts of hospital admissions due to pneumonia, bronchitis and asthma among children aged 0–17 in Hanoi, Vietnam. We explored the impact of age, gender and season on these associations.
Daily ambient air pollution concentrations and hospital admission counts were extracted from electronic databases received from authorities in Hanoi for the years 2007–2014. The associations between outdoor air pollution levels and hospital admissions were estimated for time lags of zero up to seven days using Quasi-Poisson regression models, adjusted for seasonal variations, meteorological variables, holidays, influenza epidemics and day of week.
All ambient air pollutants were positively associated with pneumonia hospitalizations. Significant associations were found for most pollutants except for ozone and sulfur dioxide in children aged 0–17. Increments of an interquartile range (21.9μg/m3) in the 7-day-average level of NO2 were associated with a 6.1% (95%CI 2.5% to 9.8%) increase in pneumonia hospitalizations. These associations remained stable in two-pollutant models. All pollutants other than CO were positively associated with hospitalizations for bronchitis and asthma. Associations were stronger in infants than in children aged 1–5.
Strong associations between hospital admissions for lower respiratory infections and daily levels of air pollution confirm the need to adopt sustainable clean air policies in Vietnam to protect children's health.
•Study examined association between ambient air pollution and lower respiratory infection in children.•An eight-year time-series study with 57′851 hospital admissions.•All markers of ambient air pollution were positively associated with pneumonia related hospitalizations.•Associations observed for nitrogen dioxide with pneumonia were independent of those seen for particles.
There is a growing number of studies on the association between ambient air pollution and adverse pregnancy outcomes, but their results have been inconsistent. Consequently, a comprehensive review of ...this research area is needed. There was a wide variability in studied pregnancy outcomes, observed gestational windows of exposure, observed ambient air pollutants, applied exposure assessment methods and statistical analysis methods
Gestational duration, preterm birth, (low) birth weight, and small for gestational age/intrauterine growth restriction were most commonly investigated pregnancy outcomes. Gestational windows of exposure typically included were whole pregnancy period, 1st, 2nd, 3rd trimester, first and last gestational months. Preterm birth was the outcome most extensively studied across various gestational windows, especially at the beginning and at the end of pregnancy.
Particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and carbon monoxide were the most commonly used markers of ambient air pollution. Continuous monitoring data were frequently combined with spatially more precisely modelled estimates of exposure.
Exposure to particulate matter and ozone over the entire pregnancy was significantly associated with higher risk for preterm birth: the pooled effect estimates were 1.09 (1.03–1.16) per 10 μg/m3 increase in particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 µm or less (PM10),1.24 (1.08–1.41) per 10 μg/m3 increase in particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 µm or less (PM2.5), and 1.03 (1.01–1.04) per 10 ppb increase in ozone. For pregnancy outcomes other than PTB, ranges of observed effect estimates were reported due to smaller number of studies included in each gestational window of exposure.
Further research is needed to link the routine pregnancy outcome data with spatially and temporally resolved ambient air pollution data, while adjusting for commonly defined confounders. Methods for assessing exposure to mixtures of pollutants, indoor air pollution exposure, and various other environmental exposures, need to be developed.
The main objectives of this study were (1) investigation of the temporal variations of ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ground level ozone (O3) concentrations in Tehran megacity, the ...capital and most populous city in Iran, over a 10-year period from 2006 to 2015, and (2) estimation of their long-term health effects including all-cause and cause-specific mortality. For the first goal, the data of PM2.5 and O3 concentrations, measured at 21 regulatory monitoring network stations in Tehran, were obtained and the temporal trends were investigated. The health impact assessment of PM2.5 and O3 was performed using the World Health Organization (WHO) AirQ+ software updated in 2016 by WHO European Centre for Environment and Health. Local baseline incidences in Tehran level were used to better reveal the health effects associated with PM2.5 and O3. Our study showed that over 2006–2015, annual mean concentrations of PM2.5 and O3 varied from 24.7 to 38.8 μg m−3 and 35.4 to 76.0 μg m−3, respectively, and were significantly declining in the recent 6 years (2010–2015) for PM2.5 and 8 years (2008–2015) for O3. However, Tehran citizens were exposed to concentrations of annual PM2.5 exceeding the WHO air quality guideline (WHO AQG) (10 μg m−3), U.S. EPA and Iranian standard levels (12 μg m−3) during entire study period. We estimated that long-term exposure to ambient PM2.5 contributed to between 24.5% and 36.2% of mortality from cerebrovascular disease (stroke), 19.8% and 24.1% from ischemic heart disease (IHD), 13.6% and 19.2% from lung cancer (LC), 10.7% and 15.3% from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 15.0% and 25.2% from acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI), and 7.6% and 11.3% from all-cause annual mortality in the time period. We further estimated that deaths from IHD accounted for most of mortality attributable to long-term exposure to PM2.5. The years of life lost (YLL) attributable to PM2.5 was estimated to vary from 67,970 to 106,706 during the study period. In addition, long-term exposure to O3 was estimated to be responsible for 0.9% to 2.3% of mortality from respiratory diseases. Overall, long-term exposure to ambient PM2.5 and O3 contributed substantially to mortality in Tehran megacity. Air pollution is a modifiable risk factor. Appropriate sustainable control policies are recommended to protect public health.
Display omitted
•Long-term trends and health impacts of PM2.5 and O3 in Tehran were evaluated from 2006–2015.•Tehran citizens were exposed to annual PM2.5 approximately 2 to 4 times higher than the WHO guideline level at all times.•Annual mean O3 concentrations declined significantly over the whole period study.•In 2015, approximately 3800 deaths (> 10 per day) were attributable to long-term exposure to ambient PM2.5 in Tehran.
Objectives
The World Health Organization has developed ambient air quality guidelines at levels considered to be safe or of acceptable risk for human health. These guidelines are meant to support ...governments in defining national standards. It is unclear how they are followed.
Methods
We compiled an inventory of ambient air quality standards for 194 countries worldwide for six air pollutants: PM
2.5
, PM
10
, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide. We conducted literature and internet searches and asked country representatives about national ambient air quality standards.
Results
We found information on 170 countries including 57 countries that did not set any air quality standards. Levels varied greatly by country and by pollutant. Ambient air quality standards for PM
2.5
, PM
10
and SO
2
poorly complied with WHO guideline values. The agreement was higher for CO, SO
2
(10-min averaging time) and NO
2
.
Conclusions
Regulatory differences mirror the differences in air quality and the related burden of disease around the globe. Governments worldwide should adopt science based air quality standards and clean air management plans to continuously improve air quality locally, nationally, and globally.
Lung cancer is the most rapidly increasing malignancy worldwide with an estimated 2.1 million cancer cases in the latest, 2018 World Health Organization (WHO) report. The objective of this study was ...to investigate the association of air pollution and lung cancer, in Tehran, Iran. Residential area information of the latest registered lung cancer cases that were diagnosed between 2014 and 2016 (N = 1,850) were inquired from the population-based cancer registry of Tehran. Long-term average exposure to PM
, SO
, NO, NO
, NO
, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m-xylene, p-xylene, o-xylene (BTEX), and BTEX in 22 districts of Tehran were estimated using land use regression models. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to generate multi-pollutant exposure profiles. Negative binomial regression analysis was used to examine the association between air pollutants and lung cancer incidence. The districts with higher concentrations for all pollutants were mostly in downtown and around the railway station. Districts with a higher concentration for NOx (IRR = 1.05, for each 10 unit increase in air pollutant), benzene (IRR = 3.86), toluene (IRR = 1.50), ethylbenzene (IRR = 5.16), p-xylene (IRR = 9.41), o-xylene (IRR = 7.93), m-xylene (IRR = 2.63) and TBTEX (IRR = 1.21) were significantly associated with higher lung cancer incidence. Districts with a higher multiple air-pollution profile were also associated with more lung cancer incidence (IRR = 1.01). Our study shows a positive association between air pollution and lung cancer incidence. This association was stronger for, respectively, p-xylene, o-xylene, ethylbenzene, benzene, m-xylene and toluene.
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