Short-term Associations between Fine and Coarse Particulate Matter and Hospitalizations in Southern Europe: Results from the MED-PARTICLES Project
- 1 September 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Environmental Health Perspectives in Environmental Health Perspectives
- Vol. 121 (9), 1026-1033
- https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1206151
Abstract
Background: Evidence on the short-term effects of fine and coarse particles on morbidity in Europe is scarce and inconsistent. Objectives: 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. Methods: City-specific Poisson models were fitted to estimate associations of daily concentrations of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <= 2.5 mu m (PM2.5), <= 10 mu m (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. Results: We found significant associations between all PM fractions and cardiovascular admissions. Increases of 10 mu g/m(3) in PM2.5, 6.3 mu g/m(3) in PM2.5-10, and 14.4 mu g/m(3) 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). Conclusions: 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.Keywords
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