. 2023 Jan 15:217:114841.

doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114841. Epub 2022 Nov 17.

Fine particulate matter and incident coronary heart disease events up to 10 years of follow-up among Deepwater Horizon oil spill workers

Dazhe Chen¹, Dale P Sandler², Alexander P Keil³, Gerardo Heiss³, Eric A Whitsel⁴, Gregory C Pratt⁵, Patricia A Stewart⁶, Mark R Stenzel⁷, Caroline P Groth⁸, Sudipto Banerjee⁹, Tran B Huynh¹⁰, Jessie K Edwards³, W Braxton Jackson 2nd¹¹, Joseph Engeda¹¹, Richard K Kwok¹², Emily J Werder², Kaitlyn G Lawrence², Lawrence S Engel¹³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. Electronic address: dazhec@live.unc.edu.
² Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.
³ Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁴ Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁵ Division of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
⁶ Stewart Exposure Assessments, LLC, Arlington, VA, USA.
⁷ Exposure Assessment Applications, LLC, Arlington, VA, USA.
⁸ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA.
⁹ Department of Biostatistics, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California - Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
¹¹ Social & Scientific Systems, Inc, a DLH Holdings Company, Durham, NC, USA.
¹² Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA; Office of the Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA.
¹³ Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA. Electronic address: larry.engel@unc.edu.

PMID: 36403648
PMCID: PMC9825646
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114841

Fine particulate matter and incident coronary heart disease events up to 10 years of follow-up among Deepwater Horizon oil spill workers

Dazhe Chen et al. Environ Res. 2023.

. 2023 Jan 15:217:114841.

doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114841. Epub 2022 Nov 17.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. Electronic address: dazhec@live.unc.edu.
² Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.
³ Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁴ Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁵ Division of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
⁶ Stewart Exposure Assessments, LLC, Arlington, VA, USA.
⁷ Exposure Assessment Applications, LLC, Arlington, VA, USA.
⁸ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA.
⁹ Department of Biostatistics, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California - Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
¹¹ Social & Scientific Systems, Inc, a DLH Holdings Company, Durham, NC, USA.
¹² Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA; Office of the Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA.
¹³ Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA. Electronic address: larry.engel@unc.edu.

PMID: 36403648
PMCID: PMC9825646
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114841

Abstract

Background: During the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) disaster, in-situ burning and flaring were conducted to remove oil from the water. Workers near combustion sites were potentially exposed to burning-related fine particulate matter (PM_2.5). Exposure to PM_2.5 has been linked to increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), but no study has examined the relationship among oil spill workers.

Objectives: To investigate the association between estimated PM_2.5 from burning/flaring of oil/gas and CHD risk among the DWH oil spill workers.

Methods: We included workers who participated in response and cleanup activities on the water during the DWH disaster (N = 9091). PM_2.5 exposures were estimated using a job-exposure matrix that linked modelled PM_2.5 concentrations to detailed DWH spill work histories provided by participants. We ascertained CHD events as the first self-reported physician-diagnosed CHD or a fatal CHD event that occurred after each worker's last day of burning exposure. We estimated hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) for the associations between categories of average or cumulative daily maximum PM_2.5 exposure (versus a referent category of water workers not near controlled burning) and subsequent CHD. We assessed exposure-response trends by examining continuous exposure parameters in models.

Results: We observed increased CHD hazard among workers with higher levels of average daily maximum exposure (low vs. referent: HR = 1.26, 95% CI: 0.93, 1.70; high vs. referent: HR = 2.11, 95% CI: 1.08, 4.12; per 10 μg/m³ increase: HR = 1.10, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.19). We also observed suggestively elevated HRs among workers with higher cumulative daily maximum exposure (low vs. referent: HR = 1.19, 95% CI: 0.68, 2.08; medium vs. referent: HR = 1.38, 95% CI: 0.88, 2.16; high vs. referent: HR = 1.44, 95% CI: 0.96, 2.14; per 100 μg/m³-d increase: HR = 1.03, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.05).

Conclusions: Among oil spill workers, exposure to PM_2.5 from flaring/burning of oil/gas was associated with increased risk of CHD.

Keywords: Air pollution; Coronary heart disease; Myocardial infarction; Oil spill; PM(2.5); Particulate matter.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Fine particulate matter and incident coronary heart disease events up to 10 years of follow-up among Deepwater Horizon oil spill workers

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Fine particulate matter and incident coronary heart disease events up to 10 years of follow-up among Deepwater Horizon oil spill workers

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