Long-term Exposure to PM Components and Cardiovascular Admissions in Medicare Patients.

Background: Fine particulate matter (PM) has been previously linked to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). PM is a mixture of components, each of which has its own toxicity profile which are not yet well understood. This study explores the relationship between long-term exposure to PM components and hospital admissions with CVDs in the Medicare population.

Association of Annual Exposure to Air Pollution Mixture on Asthma Hospitalizations in the United States.

Air pollutants have adverse effects on asthma exacerbation in people of all ages. However, fewer studies have examined long-term exposure to particle components in conjunction with nitrogen dioxide (NO) and ozone (O) to assess their mixture effects. We used weighted quantile sum regression to assess the cumulative effects of 15 particle components, including organic compounds and metals, together with NO and O, on counts of inpatient asthma hospitalizations for children 0-18 years of age and adults 19-64 years of age.

Mobile monitoring of air pollution - a position paper on use cases, good practices, challenges, and opportunities.

Mobile monitoring has proven to be a very efficient tool to measure and feed into models of air pollution as it complements fixed air quality monitoring networks by adding spatiotemporal resolution. This paper explores best practices, opportunities and challenges related to mobile monitoring of air pollutants, focusing on three key application areas, namely source-, exposure-, and health-related use cases. Use cases are linked to users, ensuring mobile monitoring is effectively tailored to diverse research and policy needs.

The mediating role of air pollution in the relationship between greenspace and cardiorespiratory admissions in Brazil.

Urban greenspaces have long been recognized for their potential to enhance environmental quality and public health. Despite the well-documented direct benefits of greenspaces, the mediating role of air pollution in the relationship between greenspaces and health outcomes remains less explored in low- and middle-income countries. This study investigates the mediating role of air pollution in the relationship between greenspace and cardiorespiratory admissions in Brazil.

Spatial and temporal variation of façade-level particle number concentrations using portable monitors in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Ultrafine particles (UFP), commonly expressed as particle number concentrations (PNC), have been associated with harm to human health yet are currently not regulated or routinely monitored in many places. This has limited the potential for studies of health effects of long-term exposure to UFP. The present study aims to understand the spatial and temporal variation in façade-level UFP exposures in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Source-Specific PM and Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Mortality.

Background: Fine particulate matter (PM) exposure is adversely linked to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). However, most studies focused on PM mass rather than its chemical composition and specific sources. Particulate pollution sources can have distinct, cumulative, and potentially synergistic health impacts.

Nationwide analysis of air pollution hotspots across India: A spatiotemporal PM trend analysis (2008-2019).

Introduction: India experiences high levels of air pollution as measured by fine particulate matter <2.5 μm (PM) across the country. With limited resources, it is imperative to identify the most impacted areas.

Thermal Comfort Conditions and Mortality in Brazil.

Conventional temperature-based approaches often overlook the intricate nature of thermal stress experienced by individuals. To address this limitation, climatologists have developed thermal indices-composite measures designed to reflect the complex interaction of meteorological factors influencing human perception of temperature. Our study focuses on Brazil, estimating the association between thermal comfort conditions and mortality related to respiratory and circulatory diseases.

Two Decades of Air Pollution Health Risk Assessment: Insights From the Use of WHO's AirQ and AirQ+ Tools.

Objectives: We evaluated studies that used the World Health Organization's (WHO) AirQ and AirQ+ tools for air pollution (AP) health risk assessment (HRA) and provided best practice suggestions for future assessments.

Methods: We performed a comprehensive review of studies using WHO's AirQ and AirQ+ tools, searching several databases for relevant articles, reports, and theses from inception to Dec 31, 2022.

Results: We identified 286 studies that met our criteria.

Grouped mixtures of air pollutants and seasonal temperature anomalies and cardiovascular hospitalizations among U.S. Residents.

Background: Air pollution is a recognized risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Temperature is also linked to CVD, with a primary focus on acute effects. Despite the close relationship between air pollution and temperature, their health effects are often examined separately, potentially overlooking their synergistic effects.

Discovering Subgroups of Children With High Mortality in Urban Guinea-Bissau: Exploratory and Validation Cohort Study.

Background: The decline in global child mortality is an important public health achievement, yet child mortality remains disproportionally high in many low-income countries like Guinea-Bissau. The persisting high mortality rates necessitate targeted research to identify vulnerable subgroups of children and formulate effective interventions.

Objective: This study aimed to discover subgroups of children at an elevated risk of mortality in the urban setting of Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, West Africa.

The flip side of the coin: Exploring the environmental and health impacts of proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining.

Blockchain technology, the backbone of cryptocurrency, is under scrutiny due to the environmental and health hazards linked to its energy-consuming Proof-of-Work (PoW) mining process. This review study provides a comprehensive analysis of the global health implications of PoW mining and cryptocurrency, with a focus on environmental sustainability and human health. The research utilized both traditional databases (PubMed and Web of Science) and additional primary sources.

Nationwide estimation of daily ambient PM from 2008 to 2020 at 1 km in India using an ensemble approach.

High-resolution assessment of historical levels is essential for assessing the health effects of ambient air pollution in the large Indian population. The diversity of geography, weather patterns, and progressive urbanization, combined with a sparse ground monitoring network makes it challenging to accurately capture the spatiotemporal patterns of ambient fine particulate matter (PM) pollution in India. We developed a model for daily average ambient PM between 2008 and 2020 based on monitoring data, meteorology, land use, satellite observations, and emissions inventories.

Harnessing AI to unmask Copenhagen's invisible air pollutants: A study on three ultrafine particle metrics.

Ultrafine particles (UFPs) are airborne particles with a diameter of less than 100 nm. They are emitted from various sources, such as traffic, combustion, and industrial processes, and can have adverse effects on human health. Long-term mean ambient average particle size (APS) in the UFP range varies over space within cities, with locations near UFP sources having typically smaller APS.

Long-term exposure to PM2.5 species and all-cause mortality among Medicare patients using mixtures analyses.

Background: The relationship between long-term exposure to PM and mortality is well-established; however, the role of individual species is less understood.

Objectives: In this study, we assess the overall effect of long-term exposure to PM as a mixture of species and identify the most harmful of those species while controlling for the others.

Methods: We looked at changes in mortality among Medicare participants 65 years of age or older from 2000 to 2018 in response to changes in annual levels of 15 PM components, namely: organic carbon, elemental carbon, nickel, lead, zinc, sulfate, potassium, vanadium, nitrate, silicon, copper, iron, ammonium, calcium, and bromine.

Climate Change, Exposome Change, and Allergy: A Review.

Climate change is a major threat to human respiratory health and associated allergic disorders given its broad impact on the exposome. Climate change can affect exposure to allergens, such as pollen, dust mites, molds, as well as other factors such as temperature, air pollution, and nutritional factors, which synergistically impact the immune response to these allergens. Exposome change can differentially exacerbate allergic reactions across subgroups of populations, especially those who are more vulnerable to environmental stressors.

Short-term air pollution exposure and mortality in Brazil: Investigating the susceptible population groups.

This is the first study to examine the association between ambient air pollution (PM, O, and NO) and mortality (in different population groups by sex and age) based on a nationwide death record across Brazil over a 15-year period (2003-2017). We used a time-series analytic approach with a distributed lag model. Our study population includes 2,872,084 records of deaths in Brazil between 2003 and 2017.

Short-term exposure to ultrafine particles and mortality and hospital admissions due to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Ultrafine particles (UFP; particulate matter <0.1 μm in diameter) may be more harmful to human health than larger particles, but epidemiological evidence on their health effects is still limited. In this study, we examined the association between short-term exposure to UFP and mortality and hospital admissions in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The Association of Air Pollution Exposure With Glucose and Lipid Levels: The Role of an Extreme Air Pollution Event Alongside 2 Decades of Moderate Exposure.

Extreme air pollution events and moderate exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are associated with increased cardiometabolic risk. The World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program general responder cohort includes responders to the WTC disaster.

Long-term exposure to ambient fine particulate components and leukocyte epigenome-wide DNA Methylation in older men: the Normative Aging Study.

Background: Epigenome-wide association studies of ambient fine particulate matter (PM) have been reported. However, few have examined PM components (PMCs) and sources or included repeated measures. The lack of high-resolution exposure measurements is the key limitation.

Long-term exposure to air pollution and anti-mullerian hormone rate of decline: a population-based cohort study in Tehran, Iran.

Anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) concentration is a marker of ovarian reserve that decreases with age. However, a decrease in AMH may occur more rapidly under the influence of environmental factors. The present study investigated the association between long-term exposure to ambient air pollutants with serum concentrations of AMH and the AMH rate of decline.

Socioeconomic and racial disparities in source-apportioned PM levels across urban areas in the contiguous US, 2010.

Fine particulate matter (PM) air pollution exposure is associated with short and long-term health effects. Several studies found differences in PM exposure associated with neighborhood racial and socioeconomic composition. However, most focused on total PM mass rather than its chemical components and their sources.