External exposome and incident asthma across the life course in 14 European cohorts: a prospective analysis within the EXPANSE project.

Background: The joint impact of exposure to multiple urban environmental factors on asthma remains unclear.

Methods: We analysed data from 14 European cohorts to assess the impact of the urban exposome on asthma incidence across the life course. We linked three external exposome domains (air pollution, built environment, ambient temperature) to the participants' home addresses at baseline.

Study protocol for an observational cohort study of heat stress impacts in pregnancy in The Gambia, West Africa.

Climate change has resulted in an increase in heat exposure globally. There is strong evidence that this increased heat stress is associated with poor maternal and fetal outcomes, especially in vulnerable populations. However, there remains poor understanding of the biological pathways and mechanisms involved in the impact of heat in pregnancy.

Socioeconomic Inequalities in the External Exposome in European Cohorts: The EXPANSE Project.

Socioeconomic inequalities in the exposome have been found to be complex and highly context-specific, but studies have not been conducted in large population-wide cohorts from multiple countries. This study aims to examine the external exposome, encompassing individual and environmental factors influencing health over the life course, and to perform dimension reduction to derive interpretable characterization of the external exposome for multicountry epidemiological studies. Analyzing data from over 25 million individuals across seven European countries including 12 administrative and traditional cohorts, we utilized domain-specific principal component analysis (PCA) to define the external exposome, focusing on air pollution, the built environment, and air temperature.

Changes in air pollution exposure after residential relocation and body mass index in children and adolescents: A natural experiment study.

Air pollution exposure may affect child weight gain, but observational studies provide inconsistent evidence. Residential relocation can be leveraged as a natural experiment by studying changes in health outcomes after a sudden change in exposure within an individual. We aimed to evaluate whether changes in air pollution exposure due to residential relocation are associated with changes in body mass index (BMI) in children and adolescents in a natural experiment study.

Explorative Assessment of the Temperature-Mortality Association to Support Health-Based Heat-Warning Thresholds: A National Case-Crossover Study in Switzerland.

Defining health-based thresholds for effective heat warnings is crucial for climate change adaptation strategies. Translating the non-linear function between heat and health effects into an effective threshold for heat warnings to protect the population is a challenge. We present a systematic analysis of heat indicators in relation to mortality.

Effect of residential relocation on environmental exposures in European cohorts: An exposome-wide approach.

Residential relocation is increasingly used as a natural experiment in epidemiological studies to assess the health impact of changes in environmental exposures. Since the likelihood of relocation can be influenced by individual characteristics that also influence health, studies may be biased if the predictors of relocation are not appropriately accounted for. Using data from Swedish and Dutch adults (SDPP, AMIGO), and birth cohorts (BAMSE, PIAMA), we investigated factors associated with relocation and changes in multiple environmental exposures across life stages.

The association of road traffic noise with cognition in adolescents: A cohort study in Switzerland.

Environmental noise exposure has been shown to affect children's cognition, but the concept of cognition is multifaceted, and studies on associations with noise are still inconclusive and fragmented. We studied cognitive change within one year in 882 adolescents aged 10-17 years in response to road traffic noise exposure. Participants filled in a comprehensive questionnaire and underwent cognitive testing twice at an interval of one year.

Ensemble averaging using remote sensing data to model spatiotemporal PM concentrations in sparsely monitored South Africa.

There is a paucity of air quality data in sub-Saharan African countries to inform science driven air quality management and epidemiological studies. We investigated the use of available remote-sensing aerosol optical depth (AOD) data to develop spatially and temporally resolved models to predict daily particulate matter (PM) concentrations across four provinces of South Africa (Gauteng, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape) for the year 2016 in a two-staged approach. In stage 1, a Random Forest (RF) model was used to impute Multiangle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction AOD data for days where it was missing.

Ambient Air Pollution and Cardiorespiratory Outcomes amongst Adults Residing in Four Informal Settlements in the Western Province of South Africa.

Few studies have investigated the relationship between ambient air pollution and cardiorespiratory outcomes in Africa. A cross-sectional study comprising of 572 adults from four informal settlements in the Western Cape, South Africa was conducted. Participants completed a questionnaire adapted from the European Community Respiratory Health Survey, and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey questionnaire.

Transportation noise exposure and cardiovascular mortality: 15-years of follow-up in a nationwide prospective cohort in Switzerland.

Background: Death from cardiovascular diseases (CVD) has been associated with transportation noise. This nationwide cohort, with state-of-the-art exposure assessment, evaluates these associations by noise source.

Methods: Road traffic, railway and aircraft noise for 2001 and 2011 were linked to 4.

Mutual effects of fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and fireworks on cause-specific acute cardiovascular mortality: A case-crossover study in communities affected by aircraft noise.

Ambient air pollution is the leading cause of environmental mortality and morbidity worldwide. However, the individual contributions to acute mortality of traffic-related air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO) and fine particulate matter (PM) are still debated. We conducted a time-stratified case-crossover study for a population located around Zurich airport in Switzerland, including 24,886 adult cardiovascular deaths from the Swiss National Cohort.

The role of extreme temperature in cause-specific acute cardiovascular mortality in Switzerland: A case-crossover study.

Since the 2003 heatwave in Europe, evidence has been rapidly increasing on the association between extreme temperature and all-cause mortality. Little is known, however, about cause-specific cardiovascular mortality, effect modification by air pollution and aircraft noise, and which population groups are the most vulnerable to extreme temperature. We conducted a time-stratified case-crossover study in Zurich, Switzerland, including all adult cardiovascular deaths between 2000 and 2015 with precise individual exposure estimates at home location.

Comparing Methods to Impute Missing Daily Ground-Level PM Concentrations between 2010-2017 in South Africa.

Good quality and completeness of ambient air quality monitoring data is central in supporting actions towards mitigating the impact of ambient air pollution. In South Africa, however, availability of continuous ground-level air pollution monitoring data is scarce and incomplete. To address this issue, we developed and compared different modeling approaches to impute missing daily average particulate matter (PM) data between 2010 and 2017 using spatiotemporal predictor variables.

Does night-time aircraft noise trigger mortality? A case-crossover study on 24 886 cardiovascular deaths.

Aims: It is unclear whether night-time noise events, including from aeroplanes, could trigger a cardiovascular death. In this study, we investigate the potential acute effects of aircraft noise on mortality and the specific role of different night-time exposure windows by means of a case-crossover study design.

Methods And Results: We selected 24 886 cases of death from cardiovascular disease (CVD) from the Swiss National Cohort around Zürich Airport between 2000 and 2015.

Do changes in STEC diagnostics mislead interpretation of disease surveillance data in Switzerland? Time trends in positivity, 2007 to 2016.

BackgroundLaboratory-confirmed cases of Shiga toxin-producing (STEC) have been notifiable to the National Notification System for Infectious Diseases in Switzerland since 1999. Since 2015, a large increase in case numbers has been observed. Around the same time, syndromic multiplex PCR started to replace other diagnostic methods in standard laboratory practice for gastrointestinal pathogen testing, suggesting that the increase in notified cases is due to a change in test practices and numbers.

The association between ambient NO and PM with the respiratory health of school children residing in informal settlements: A prospective cohort study.

Background: No previous epidemiological study has investigated the combined association of long-term ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO) and particulate matter of diameter size-2.5 (PM) exposure with asthma outcomes among schoolchildren in Africa.

Objectives: This study investigated the independent and co-pollutant association of long-term exposures to ambient air pollutants on asthma-associated outcomes in a cohort of schoolchildren in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.

Individual Aircraft Noise Exposure Assessment for a Case-Crossover Study in Switzerland.

Accurate exposure assessment is essential in environmental epidemiological studies. This is especially true for aircraft noise, which is characterized by a high spatial and temporal variation. We propose a method to assess individual aircraft noise exposure for a case-crossover study investigating the acute effects of aircraft noise on cardiovascular deaths.

Predicting Fine-Scale Daily NO for 2005-2016 Incorporating OMI Satellite Data Across Switzerland.

Nitrogen dioxide (NO) remains an important traffic-related pollutant associated with both short- and long-term health effects. We aim to model daily average NO concentrations in Switzerland in a multistage framework with mixed-effect and random forest models to respectively downscale satellite measurements and incorporate local sources. Spatial and temporal predictor variables include data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, land use, and meteorological variables.

Land Use Regression Modelling of Outdoor NO₂ and PM Concentrations in Three Low Income Areas in the Western Cape Province, South Africa.

Air pollution can cause many adverse health outcomes, including cardiovascular and respiratory disorders. Land use regression (LUR) models are frequently used to describe small-scale spatial variation in air pollution levels based on measurements and geographical predictors. They are particularly suitable in resource limited settings and can help to inform communities, industries, and policy makers.

Land Use Regression Modeling of Outdoor Noise Exposure in Informal Settlements in Western Cape, South Africa.

In low- and middle-income countries, noise exposure and its negative health effects have been little explored. The present study aimed to assess the noise exposure situation in adults living in informal settings in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. We conducted continuous one-week outdoor noise measurements at 134 homes in four different areas.