142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Home Events & Meetings Annual Meeting Schedule & Program

Online Program

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

298991
Ambient fine particulate matter and deaths from heart diseases in contiguous U.S. counties

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014 : 10:30 AM - 10:50 AM

Yongping Hao, Ph.D , CDC/NCEH/Tracking Branch, CDC, Atlanta, GA
Lina S. Balluz, ScD, MPH , National Center for Environmental Health/Environmental Tracking Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
Background: Environmental Epidemiological studies have shown a link between cardiovascular disease mortality and exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution. However, most studies have been limited to metropolitan areas.

Methods: This study examines the association between ambient PM2.5 and deaths from heart diseases in 3109 U.S. counties. We aggregated 2007-2008 deaths from heart diseases: rheumatic, hypertensive, and ischemic heart diseases (ICD-10 codes I00-I09, I11, I13, I20-I51) by county; and used six-year average of daily PM2.5(2001-2006) to represent long-term exposure. We fit  county-level data in Poisson Bayesian hierarchical models to estimate the ecological association, adjusted for five major covariates (≥65 years adult, poverty, smoking, obesity, and ambient temperature), with random effects at state and county levels to account for spatial correlation.

Results: Exposure to PM2.5 was associated with deaths from heart diseases, with a rate ratio of 1.08 (95% credible interval, 1.03-1.13) per 5 µg/m3 increase in average PM2.5.    

Conclusions: Our results suggest that ambient PM2.5 associated with increased risk of death from heart diseases in contiguous U.S. counties. Although we adjusted for observed covariates and unobserved influences, the possibility of some ecologic bias remains. 

Learning Areas:

Environmental health sciences
Epidemiology

Learning Objectives:
Demonstrate that ambient PM2.5 ssociated with increased risk of death from heart diseases in U.S. counties.

Keyword(s): Environmental Health, Heart Disease

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: none

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: i was involved in planning the study and reviewing the methodology and the contents
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3140.0: Linking Non-traditional Partners to Address Chemicals and Public Health