Fine Particulate Matter Exposure and Blood Pressure: Evidence from a Chinese Large Multiple Follow-Up Study

Abstract Background: Long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5 or FPM) may cause adverse effects on cardiovascular diseases. However, evidence that whether improved air quality can decrease blood pressure (BP) in humans is still needed from a large population study. Methods: Our study aimed to investigate the association of population ambient PM2.5 exposure with the blood pressure (BP) changes in China with implementing the Action Plan on Air Pollution Prevention and Control. A total of14,080 participants who had at least two valid visits were adopted from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS) during 2011–2015. Their long-term PM2.5 exposure was assessed at the geographical level of a regular 0.1° × 0.1° grid over China. A mixed-effects regression model was used to assess their associations. The robustness and homogeneity of the association were tested via sensitivity analyses. Results: The results revealed that each reduction of 10 µg/m3 in the 1 year-mean PM2.5 concentration (FPM1Y) was associated with a decrease of 1.24 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.84–1.64) mmHg of systolic BP (SBP) and 0.50 (95% CI: 0.25–0.75) mmHg of diastolic BP (DBP), respectively. A robust association was observed between the long-term reduction of PM2.5 and decreased BP in the middle-aged and elderly population in China. These findings were further confirmed by a non-linear regression model. Conclusions: We concluded that air pollution control for PM2.5 can obviously promote vascular health. Our study provided robust scientific support for making the air pollution control policies.

Download Full-text

acp-2019-42 Impact of air pollution control measures and regional transport on carbonaceous aerosols in fine particulate matter in urban Beijing, China: Insights gained from long-term measurement

10.5194/acp-2019-42-rc1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Anonymous

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Pollution Control ◽

Fine Particulate Matter ◽

Control Measures ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Carbonaceous Aerosols ◽

Fine Particulate ◽

Beijing China ◽

Long Term Measurement

Download Full-text

Ji et al., Impact of air pollution control measures and regional transport on carbonaceous aerosols in fine particulate matter in urban Beijing, China: Insights gained from long-term measurement

10.5194/acp-2019-42-rc3 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Anonymous

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Pollution Control ◽

Fine Particulate Matter ◽

Control Measures ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Carbonaceous Aerosols ◽

Fine Particulate ◽

Beijing China ◽

Long Term Measurement

Download Full-text

Impact of air pollution control measures and regional transport on carbonaceous aerosols in fine particulate matter in urban Beijing, China: insights gained from long-term measurement

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-19-8569-2019 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (13) ◽

pp. 8569-8590 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Dongsheng Ji ◽

Wenkang Gao ◽

Willy Maenhaut ◽

Jun He ◽

Zhe Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Particulate Matter ◽

Air Quality ◽

Pollution Control ◽

Fine Particulate Matter ◽

Control Measures ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Heavy Duty ◽

Potential Source ◽

Fine Particulate

Abstract. As major chemical components of airborne fine particulate matter (PM2.5), organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) have vital impacts on air quality, climate change, and human health. Because OC and EC are closely associated with fuel combustion, it is helpful for the scientific community and policymakers assessing the efficacy of air pollution control measures to study the impact of control measures and regional transport on OC and EC levels. In this study, hourly mass concentrations of OC and EC associated with PM2.5 were semi-continuously measured from March 2013 to February 2018. The results showed that annual mean OC and EC concentrations declined from 14.0 to 7.7 µg m−3 and from 4.0 to 2.6 µg m−3, respectively, from March 2013 to February 2018. In combination with the data of OC and EC in previous studies, an obvious decreasing trend in OC and EC concentrations was found, which was caused by clean energy policies and effective air pollution control measures. However, no obvious change in the ratios of OC and EC to the PM2.5 mass (on average, 0.164 and 0.049, respectively) was recorded, suggesting that inorganic ions still contributed a lot to PM2.5. Based on the seasonal variations in OC and EC, it appeared that higher OC and EC concentrations were still observed in the winter months, with the exception of winter of 2017–2018. Traffic policies executed in Beijing resulted in nighttime peaks of OC and EC, caused by heavy-duty vehicles and heavy-duty diesel vehicles being permitted to operate from 00:00 to 06:00 (China standard time, UTC+8, for all times throughout the paper). In addition, the fact that there was no traffic restriction in weekends led to higher concentrations on weekends compared to weekdays. Significant correlations between OC and EC were observed throughout the study period, suggesting that OC and EC originated from common emission sources, such as exhaust of vehicles and fuel combustion. OC and EC levels increased with enhanced SO2, CO, and NOx concentrations while the O3 and OC levels were enhanced simultaneously when O3 concentrations were higher than 50 µg m−3. Non-parametric wind regression analysis was performed to examine the sources of OC and EC in the Beijing area. It was found that there were distinct hot spots in the northeast wind sector at wind speeds of approximately 0–6 km h−1, as well as diffuse signals in the southwestern wind sectors. Source areas further away from Beijing were assessed by potential source contribution function (PSCF) analysis. A high-potential source area was precisely pinpointed, which was located in the northwestern and southern areas of Beijing in 2017 instead of solely in the southern areas of Beijing in 2013. This work shows that improvement of the air quality in Beijing benefits from strict control measures; however, joint prevention and control of regional air pollution in the regions is needed for further improving the air quality. The results provide a reference for controlling air pollution caused by rapid economic development in developing countries.

Download Full-text

Impact of air pollution control measures and regional transport on carbonaceous aerosols in fine particulate matter in urban Beijing, China: Insights gained from long-term measurement

10.5194/acp-2019-42 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Dongsheng Ji ◽

Wenkang Gao ◽

Willy Maenhaut ◽

Jun He ◽

Zhe Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Particulate Matter ◽

Air Quality ◽

Pollution Control ◽

Fine Particulate Matter ◽

Control Measures ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Heavy Duty ◽

Potential Source ◽

Fine Particulate

Abstract. As major chemical components of airborne fine particulate matter (PM2.5), organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) have vital impacts on air quality, climate change, and human health. Because OC and EC are closely associated with fuel combustion, it is helpful for the scientific community and policymakers assessing the efficacy of air pollution control measures to study on the impact of the control measures and regional transport on the OC and EC levels. In this study, hourly mass concentrations of OC and EC associated with PM2.5 were semi-continuously measured from March 2013 to February 2018. The results showed that annual mean OC and EC concentrations declined from 14.0 to 7.7 μg/m3 and from 4.0 to 2.6 μg/m3, respectively, from March 2013 to February 2018. In combination with the data of OC and EC in previous studies, an obvious decreasing trend in OC and EC concentrations was found, which was caused by clean energy policies and effective air pollution control measures. However, no obvious change in the ratios of OC and EC to the PM2.5 mass (on average, 0.164 and 0.049, respectively) was recorded, suggesting that inorganic ions still contributed a lot to PM2.5. Based on the seasonal variations of OC and EC, it appeared that higher OC and EC concentrations were still observed in the winter months, with the exception of winter of 2017–2018. Traffic policies executed in Beijing resulted in nighttime peaks of OC and EC, caused by heavy-duty vehicles and heavy-duty diesel vehicles being permitted to operate from 0:00 to 6:00. In addition, the fact that there was no traffic restriction in weekends led to higher concentrations in weekends compared to weekdays. Significant correlations between OC and EC were observed throughout the study period, suggesting that OC and EC originated from common emission sources, such as exhaust of vehicles and fuel combustion. OC and EC levels increased with enhanced SO2, CO and NOx concentrations while the O3 and OC levels enhanced simultaneously when O3 concentrations were higher than 50 μg/m3. Nonparametric wind regression analysis was performed to examine the sources of OC and EC in the Beijing area. It was found that there were distinct hot spots in the northeast wind sector at wind speeds of approximately 5 km/h, as well as diffuse signals in the southwestern wind sectors, highlighting probable trans-boundary transport from highly industrialized regions upwind of the Hebei province, such as Baoding, Shijiazhuang and Handan, which were the most polluted cities in China. This was consistent with their higher potential as source areas, as determined by the potential source contribution function (PSCF) analysis. A high-potential source area was precisely pinpointed, which was located in the northwestern and southern areas of Beijing in 2017 instead of solely in the southern areas of Beijing in 2013. This work shows that improvement of the air quality in Beijing benefits from strict control measures; however, joint prevention and control of regional air pollution in the regions is needed for further improving the air quality. The results provide a reference for controlling air pollution caused by rapid economic development in developing countries.

Download Full-text

Long‐Term Exposure to Particulate Air Pollution Is Associated With 30‐Day Readmissions and Hospital Visits Among Patients With Heart Failure

Journal of the American Heart Association ◽

10.1161/jaha.120.019430 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Cavin K. Ward‐Caviness, ◽

Mahdieh Danesh Yazdi, ◽

Joshua Moyer, ◽

Anne M. Weaver, ◽

Wayne E. Cascio, ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Heart Failure ◽

Air Pollution ◽

Particulate Matter ◽

Fine Particulate Matter ◽

Total Hospital ◽

Fine Particulate ◽

Patients With Heart Failure ◽

Hospital Visits ◽

Pollution Exposure

Background Long‐term air pollution exposure is a significant risk factor for inpatient hospital admissions in the general population. However, we lack information on whether long‐term air pollution exposure is a risk factor for hospital readmissions, particularly in individuals with elevated readmission rates. Methods and Results We determined the number of readmissions and total hospital visits (outpatient visits+emergency room visits+inpatient admissions) for 20 920 individuals with heart failure. We used quasi‐Poisson regression models to associate annual average fine particulate matter at the date of heart failure diagnosis with the number of hospital visits and 30‐day readmissions. We used inverse probability weights to balance the distribution of confounders and adjust for the competing risk of death. Models were adjusted for age, race, sex, smoking status, urbanicity, year of diagnosis, short‐term fine particulate matter exposure, comorbid disease, and socioeconomic status. A 1‐µg/m 3 increase in fine particulate matter was associated with a 9.31% increase (95% CI, 7.85%–10.8%) in total hospital visits, a 4.35% increase (95% CI, 1.12%–7.68%) in inpatient admissions, and a 14.2% increase (95% CI, 8.41%–20.2%) in 30‐day readmissions. Associations were robust to different modeling approaches. Conclusions These results highlight the potential for air pollution to play a role in hospital use, particularly hospital visits and readmissions. Given the elevated frequency of hospitalizations and readmissions among patients with heart failure, these results also represent an important insight into modifiable environmental risk factors that may improve outcomes and reduce hospital use among patients with heart failure.

Download Full-text