Long-term exposure to low-level ambient air pollution and incidence of stroke and coronary heart disease: a pooled analysis of six European cohorts within the ELAPSE project

BackgroundLong-term exposure to ambient air pollution has been linked to childhood-onset asthma, while evidence is still insufficient. Within the multicentre project “Effects of Low-Level Air Pollution: A Study in Europe” (ELAPSE), we examined the associations of long-term exposures to particulate matter with diameter<2.5 µm (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and black carbon (BC) with asthma incidence in adults.MethodsWe pooled data from three cohorts in Denmark and Sweden with information on asthma hospital diagnoses. The average concentrations of air pollutants in 2010 were modelled by hybrid land use regression models at participants’ baseline residential addresses. Associations of air pollution exposures with asthma incidence were explored with Cox proportional hazard models, adjusting for potential confounders.ResultsOf 98 326 participants, 1965 developed asthma during a 16.6 years mean follow-up. We observed associations in fully adjusted models with hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals of 1.22 (1.04−1.43) per 5 μg·m−3 for PM2.5, 1.17 (1.10−1.25) per 10 µg·m−3 for NO2, and 1.15 (1.08−1.23) per 0.5 10−5 m−1 for BC. Hazard ratios were larger in cohort subsets with exposure levels below the EU and US limit values and possibly WHO guidelines for PM2.5 and NO2. NO2 and BC estimates remained unchanged in two-pollutant models with PM2.5, whereas PM2.5 estimates were attenuated to unity. The concentration response curves showed no evidence of a threshold.ConclusionsLong-term exposure to air pollution, especially from fossil fuel combustion sources such as motorised traffic, was associated with adult-onset asthma, even at levels below the current limit values.

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Long-term exposure to low-level air pollution and incidence of asthma: the ELAPSE project

European Respiratory Journal ◽

10.1183/13993003.03099-2020 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 57 (6) ◽

pp. 2003099 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Shuo Liu ◽

Jeanette Therming Jørgensen ◽

Petter Ljungman ◽

Göran Pershagen ◽

Tom Bellander ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Ambient Air ◽

Ambient Air Pollution ◽

World Health ◽

Limit Values ◽

Low Level ◽

Asthma Incidence ◽

Current Limit ◽

Hazard Ratios

BackgroundLong-term exposure to ambient air pollution has been linked to childhood-onset asthma, although evidence is still insufficient. Within the multicentre project Effects of Low-Level Air Pollution: A Study in Europe (ELAPSE), we examined the associations of long-term exposures to particulate matter with a diameter <2.5 µm (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and black carbon (BC) with asthma incidence in adults.MethodsWe pooled data from three cohorts in Denmark and Sweden with information on asthma hospital diagnoses. The average concentrations of air pollutants in 2010 were modelled by hybrid land-use regression models at participants’ baseline residential addresses. Associations of air pollution exposures with asthma incidence were explored with Cox proportional hazard models, adjusting for potential confounders.ResultsOf 98 326 participants, 1965 developed asthma during a mean follow-up of 16.6 years. We observed associations in fully adjusted models with hazard ratios of 1.22 (95% CI 1.04–1.43) per 5 μg·m−3 for PM2.5, 1.17 (95% CI 1.10–1.25) per 10 µg·m−3 for NO2 and 1.15 (95% CI 1.08–1.23) per 0.5×10−5 m−1 for BC. Hazard ratios were larger in cohort subsets with exposure levels below the European Union and US limit values and possibly World Health Organization guidelines for PM2.5 and NO2. NO2 and BC estimates remained unchanged in two-pollutant models with PM2.5, whereas PM2.5 estimates were attenuated to unity. The concentration–response curves showed no evidence of a threshold.ConclusionsLong-term exposure to air pollution, especially from fossil fuel combustion sources such as motorised traffic, was associated with adult-onset asthma, even at levels below the current limit values.

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Low-level ambient air pollution exposure and risk of lung cancer – a pooled analysis of 7 European cohorts

Environmental Epidemiology ◽

10.1097/01.ee9.0000607668.72511.99 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 171

Author(s):

Hvidtfeldt U ◽

Severi G ◽

Samoli E ◽

Andersen Z ◽

Hertel O ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lung Cancer ◽

Air Pollution ◽

Ambient Air ◽

Pooled Analysis ◽

Ambient Air Pollution ◽

Low Level ◽

Air Pollution Exposure ◽

Pollution Exposure

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Effects of Long-Term Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution on Brain Cortical Thinning Among Elderly Individuals Without Neurological Diseases

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.3402016 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Jaelim Cho ◽

Young Noh ◽

Sun Young Kim ◽

Jungwoo Sohn ◽

Juhwan Noh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Neurological Diseases ◽

Ambient Air ◽

Ambient Air Pollution ◽

Elderly Individuals ◽

Cortical Thinning

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Systemic Inflammation (C-Reactive Protein) in Older Chinese Adults Is Associated with Long-Term Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18063258 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (6) ◽

pp. 3258

Author(s):

Mona Elbarbary ◽

Artem Oganesyan ◽

Trenton Honda ◽

Geoffrey Morgan ◽

Yuming Guo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Systemic Inflammation ◽

Ambient Air ◽

Ambient Air Pollution ◽

Chinese Adults ◽

Reactive Protein ◽

Hs Crp ◽

Older Chinese ◽

Older Chinese Adults

There is an established association between air pollution and cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is likely to be mediated by systemic inflammation. The present study evaluated links between long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and high-sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP) in an older Chinese adult cohort (n = 7915) enrolled in the World Health Organization (WHO) study on global aging and adult health (SAGE) China Wave 1 in 2008–2010. Multilevel linear and logistic regression models were used to assess the associations of particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) on log-transformed hs-CRP levels and odds ratios of CVD risk derived from CRP levels adjusted for confounders. A satellite-based spatial statistical model was applied to estimate the average community exposure to outdoor air pollutants (PM with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 μm or less (PM10), 2.5 μm or less (PM2.5), and 1 μm or less (PM1) and NO2) for each participant of the study. hs-CRP levels were drawn from dried blood spots of each participant. Each 10 μg/m3 increment in PM10, PM2.5, PM1, and NO2 was associated with 12.8% (95% confidence interval; (CI): 9.1, 16.6), 15.7% (95% CI: 10.9, 20.8), 10.2% (95% CI: 7.3, 13.2), and 11.8% (95% CI: 7.9, 15.8) higher serum levels of hs-CRP, respectively. Our findings suggest that air pollution may be an important factor in increasing systemic inflammation in older Chinese adults.

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