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. 2013 May 28;12:43. doi: 10.1186/1476-069X-12-43

Table 1.

Summary of effect estimates (excess risk per 10 μg/m3) from cohort studies on particulate matter (PM10 or PM2.5) and mortality from all causes and cardiovascular diseases

Study
Study population
Follow-up period
Pollutant
Conca (μg/m3)
Spatial scaleb
% change in risk (95% CI) in mortality associated with a 10 μg/m3 increase PM
References
            All cause Cardiovascularc  
Harvard six cities
8111 adults in six US cities
1976 - 1989
PM2.5
18 (11–30)
City
13(4, 23)
18 (6, 32)
[15]
Harvard six cities
8096 adults in six US cities
1979 -1998
PM2.5
15 (10–22)
City
16 (7, 26)
28 (13,44)
[14]
Harvard six cities
8096 adults in six US cities
1974 - 2009
PM2.5
16 (11–24)
City
14 (7, 22)
26 (14, 40)
[16]
American Cancer Society (ACS) study
552, 800 adults from 51 US cities
1982 - 1989
PM2.5
18 (9–34)
City
26 (8, 47)
NA
[17]
ACS study
500,000 adults from 51 US cities
1982 -1998
PM2.5
18 (4)
City
6 (2, 11)
9 (3, 16)c
[18]
ACS sub-cohort study
22,905 subjects in Los Angeles area
1982 - 2000
PM2.5
(~9 – 27)
Zip code (Int)
17 (5, 30)
26 (1, 60)c
[19]
German cohort
4752 women in Ruhr area
1985 – 2003
PM10
44 (35–53)
Address (near)
12 (−9, 37)
52 (8, 114)
[20]
German cohort
4752 women in Ruhr and surrounding area
1985 - 2008
PM10
44 (35–53)
Address (near)
22 (6, 41)
61 (26, 104)
[21]
Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study
65,893 postmenopausal women from 36 US metropolitan areas
1994-1998
PM2.5
14 (3–28)
Zip code (near)
NA
76 (25,147)
[22]
Netherlands Cohort Study
120, 852 subjects from Netherlands
1987 -1996
PM2.5
28 (23–37)
Address (LUR)
6 (−3, 16)
4 (−10, 21)
[23]
Nurses’ Health Study
66,250 women from the US north eastern metropolitan areas
1992-2002
PM10
22 (4)
Address (LUR)
11 (1,23)
35 (3, 77)
[24]
Nurses’ Health Study
66,250 women from the US north eastern metropolitan areas
1992-2002
PM2.5
14 (6–28)
Address (LUR)
26 (2, 54)
NA
[25]
Medicare national cohort
13.2 million elderly Medicare recipients across the USA
2000 - 2005
PM2.5
13 (4)
Zip code (Mean)
4 (3, 6)d
 
[26]
California teachers study
45,000 female teachers
2002 -2007
PM2.5
18 (7–39)
Address (near)
6 (−4, 16)
19 (5, 36)c
[27]
Swiss national cohort
National census data linked with mortality
2000 - 2005
PM10
19 (>40)e
Address (Disp)
NA
−1 (−3, 0)
[28]
Health professionals follow-up study
17,545 highly educated men in the midwestern and northeastern US
1989 – 2003
PM2.5
18 (3)
Address (LUR)
−14 (−28,2)
3 (−17, 26)
[29]
Vancouver cohort
452,735 Vancouver residents 45–85 yr
1999 – 2002
PM2.5
4 (0 – 10)
Address (LUR)
NA
7 (-14, 32)
[30]
China nat. hypertension survey
70,497 men and women
1991 - 2000
TSP
289 (113–499)
City
0.3 (0, 1)
1 (0, 2)
[31]
US trucking industry cohort
53,814 men in the US trucking industry
1985 -2000
PM2.5
14 (4)
Address (near)
10 (3, 18)
5 (−7, 19)
[32]
Chinese retrospective cohort study
9,941 adults from five districts of Shenyang city
1998 -2009
PM10
154 (78–274)f
District (mean)
53 (50, 56)
55 (51, 60)
[33]
Canadian national cohort
2.1 million nonimmigrant Canadians . > 25 yr
1991 - 2001
PM2.5
9 (2 – 19)
Enumeration area, N = 45710 (satellite)
10 (5, 15)
15 (7, 24)
[34]
New Zealand Census mortality study
1.06 million adults in urban areas from 1996 census
1996 -1999
PM10
8 (0 – 19)
Census tract (Disp)
7 (3, 10)
6 (1, 11)
[35]
California teachers study
101,784 female teachers
1997- 2005
PM2.5
16 (3–28)
Address (Inter)
1 (−5, 9)
7 (−5, 19)
[36]
Nippon data cohort
7,250 adults > 30 yr throughout Japan
1980 - 2004
PM10
<27 - > 43
District (near)
−2 (−8, 4)
−10 (−19, 0)
[37]
Rome longitudinal study 1,265,058 adults from Rome 2001 - 2010 PM2.5 23 (7 – 32) Address (DISP, 1 km grid) 4 (3, 5) 6 (4, 8) [38]

a Mean with minimum – maximum in parentheses (μg/m3). One number in parentheses is standard deviation.

b Spatial scale of exposure assignment, in parentheses exposure assignment method. City = average of monitors within the city; Near = nearest monitor concentration; LUR = land use regression; Disp = dispersion modeling; Inter = interpolation.

c Cardio-pulmonary mortality reported if cardiovascular mortality not available.

d Combining the estimates from the three regions of the USA.

e Median and 90th percentile reported.

f Very high pollution levels that changed significantly during follow-up changing the ranking of the five districts.

Studies adjusted for individual smoking except references [26,28,30,34,38,56].