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Hospital Admissions and Chemical Composition of Fine Particle Air Pollution

¹ School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut; ² Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland; and ³ Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California

Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Michelle L. Bell, M.D., Yale University, 195 Prospect St., New Haven, CT 06511. E-mail: michelle.bell{at}yale.edu

Rationale: There are unexplained geographical and seasonal differences in the short-term effects of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) on human health. The hypothesis has been advanced to include the possibility that such differences might be due to variations in the PM_2.5 chemical composition, but evidence supporting this hypothesis is lacking.

Objectives: To examine whether variation in the relative risks (RR) of hospitalization associated with ambient exposure to PM_2.5 total mass reflects differences in PM_2.5 chemical composition.

Methods: We linked two national datasets by county and by season: (1) long-term average concentrations of PM_2.5 chemical components for 2000–2005 and (2) RRs of cardiovascular and respiratory hospitalizations for persons 65 years or older associated with a 10-µg/m³ increase in PM_2.5 total mass on the same day for 106 U.S. counties for 1999 through 2005.

Measurements and Main Results: We found a positive and statistically significant association between county-specific estimates of the short-term effects of PM_2.5 on cardiovascular and respiratory hospitalizations and county-specific levels of vanadium, elemental carbon, or nickel PM_2.5 content.

Conclusions: Communities with higher PM_2.5 content of nickel, vanadium, and elemental carbon and/or their related sources were found to have higher risk of hospitalizations associated with short-term exposure to PM_2.5.

Key Words: air pollution • particulate matter • carbon • vanadium • nickel

AT A GLANCE COMMENTARY Scientific Knowledge on the Subject Although airborne particulate matter (PM) has been linked to adverse human health effects, the chemical constituents that cause harm are unknown. The relationship between PM and health varies seasonally and regionally, as does the particle's chemical composition. What This Study Adds to the Field This work provides evidence that the chemical composition of PM affects its toxicity. In places and during seasons when PM had higher fractions of nickel, vanadium, and elemental carbon, the risks of hospital admission associated with PM with aerodynamic diameter 2.5 µm were higher.

 

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