Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Aug 1;18(1):70.
doi: 10.1186/s12940-019-0506-2.

Acute effects of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) on hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease in Beijing, China: a time-series study

Endawoke Amsalu  1   2 , Tianqi Wang  1   3 , Haibin Li  1   2 , Yue Liu  1   2 , Anxin Wang  1   2 , Xiangtong Liu  1   2 , Lixin Tao  1   2 , Yanxia Luo  1   2 , Feng Zhang  1   2 , Xinghua Yang  1   2 , Xia Li  4 , Wei Wang  5 , Xiuhua Guo  6   7
Affiliations

Acute effects of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) on hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease in Beijing, China: a time-series study

Endawoke Amsalu et al. Environ Health. .

Abstract

Background: Air pollution and cardiovascular disease are increasing problems in China. However, the short-term association between fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is not well documented. The purpose of this study is to estimate the short-term effects of PM2.5 on CVD admissions in Beijing, China.

Methods: In total, 460,938 electronic hospitalization summary reports for CVD between 2013 and 2017 were obtained. A generalized additive model using a quasi-Poisson distribution was used to investigate the association between exposure to PM2.5 and hospitalizations for total and cause-specific CVD, including coronary heart disease (CHD), atrial fibrillation (AF), and heart failure (HF) after controlling for the season, the day of the week, public holidays, and weather conditions. A stratified analysis was also conducted for age (18-64 and ≥ 65 years), sex and season.

Results: For every 10 μg/m3 increase in the PM2.5 concentration from the previous day to the current (lag 0-1) there was a significant increase in total CVD admissions (0.30, 95% CI: 0.20, 0.39%), with a strong association for older adults (aged ≥65 years), CHD (0.34, 95% CI: 0.22 to 0.45%) and AF (0.29, 95% CI, 0.03 to 0.55%). However, the observed increased risk was not statistically significant for HF hospitalizations. The associations in the single-pollutant models were robust to the inclusion of other pollutants in a two-pollutant model. No differences were found after stratification by sex and season.

Conclusions: Exposure to PM2.5 increased the risk of hospitalizations from CVD, especially for CHD, and appeared to have more influence in the elderly. Precautions and protective measures and efforts to reduce exposure to PM2.5 should be strengthened, especially for the elderly.

Keywords: Admission; Cardiovascular diseases; PM2.5; Particulate matter.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Time series plot of atmospheric pollutants and total CVD admissions from 2013 to 2017
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Exposure-response relationship curves for the association between hospital admissions for total and cause-specific cardiovascular disease and the 2-day moving average (lag 0–1) of PM2.5 concentrations
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Percentage changes with 95% confidence intervals of hospital admissions for total and cause-specific cardiovascular disease associated with a 10 μg/m3 increase in daily PM2.5 concentrations with varying lag patterns
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Percentage changes in daily hospital admissions for total and cause-specific cardiovascular disease for each 10 μg/m3 increase in the 2-day moving average (lag0–1) concentration of PM2.5, stratified by sex (male and female), season (cold and warm) and age (< 65 and ≥ 65 years)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Kan H, Chen B, Hong C. Health impact of outdoor air pollution in China: current knowledge and future research needs. Environ Health Perspect. 2009;117(5):A187. doi: 10.1289/ehp.12737. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. WHO E, W.H.O.R.O. : Air Quality Guidelines global update, Report on a Working Group meeting. In. Bonn, Germany; 2005.
    1. Miller KA, Siscovick DS, Sheppard L, Shepherd K, Sullivan JH, Anderson GL, Kaufman JD. Long-term exposure to air pollution and incidence of cardiovascular events in women. N Engl J Med. 2007;356(5):447–458. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa054409. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Oudin A, Stromberg U, Jakobsson K, Stroh E, Bjork J. Estimation of short-term effects of air pollution on stroke hospital admissions in southern Sweden. Neuroepidemiology. 2010;34(3):131–142. doi: 10.1159/000274807. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cohen AJ, Ross Anderson H, Ostro B, Pandey KD, Krzyzanowski M, Kunzli N, Gutschmidt K, Pope A, Romieu I, Samet JM, et al. The global burden of disease due to outdoor air pollution. J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2005;68(13–14):1301–1307. doi: 10.1080/15287390590936166. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types