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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Jul 25.
Published in final edited form as: Epidemiology. 2016 Mar;27(2):291–298. doi: 10.1097/EDE.0000000000000426

Table 1.

Selected characteristics of the study population by quartile of annual average PM10 exposure in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III).

n=11,623 Quartile of PM10 exposure (µg/m3)
15.3–25.2 25.2–29.4 29.4–36.3 36.3–83.4
Age – %
  17–29 years 27 25 27 28
  30–44 years 36 31 36 37
  45–64 years 21 27 27 22
  65–90 years 16 17 11 13
Sex – %
  Female 52 54 53 49
Race – %
  Non-Hispanic white 80 69 70 68
  non-Hispanic black 8 17 15 10
  Mexican-American 5 5 3 10
  Other 7 10 12 12
Smoking status – %
  Current 25 25 27 30
  Former 26 24 24 26
  Never 49 51 49 44
BMI (kg/m2) – %
  Underweight (<18·5) 2 3 4 2
  Normal weight (18·5–24·9) 42 45 46 46
  Overweight (25·0–9·9) 33 32 29 32
  Obesity (30·0–34·9) 14 15 14 14
  Morbid obesity (> 35·0) 9 6 8 6
  Unknown <1 <1 <1 <1
Educational attainment,%
  < 12 years 22 26 23 24
  12 years 33 31 30 31
  13–14 years 16 16 19 18
  15–17 years 28 27 28 26
  Unknown <1 <1 1 1
Alcohol,%
  Never drinker 11 11 13 11
Marital status, %
  Currently married 66 57 62 62
Socioeconomic status, %
  Below poverty threshold 12 15 11 13
Region, %
  Northeast 31 29 20 12
  Midwest 19 12 23 28
  South 33 42 31 6
  West 17 17 25 54
In urban/rural county, %
  Urban 42 73 69 77
Duration in city/area, %
  < 1 year (or unknown) 6 8 7 6
  Triglycerides, mg/dL 135.3 ± 95.8 136.3 ± 96.9 134.9 ± 106.3 144.1 ± 118.3
  Total cholesterol, mg/dL 201.0 ± 42.5 201.1 ± 41.2 200.0 ± 45.1 202.2 ± 43.8
  LDL cholesterol, mg/dL 125.5 ± 38.8 125.1 ± 36.5 123.8 ± 37.3 128.2 ± 37.5
  HDL cholesterol, mg/dL 50.7 ± 15.5 51.5 ± 14.8 50.9 ± 15.4 51.1 ± 15.3
  Systolic blood pressure, mm Hg 120.7 ± 17.2 122.0 ± 18.4 120.3 ± 16.6 120.6 ± 16.4
  Diastolic blood pressure, mm Hg 74.0 ± 10.0 72.9 ± 10.1 74.1 ± 10.2 73.2 ± 9.8
  Pulse pressure, mm Hg 46.7 ± 14.9 49.1 ± 15.0 46.2 ± 13.5 47.4 ± 14.2
Portion of study population with high risk levels of outcome variablesa – %
  Hypertriglyceridemia 16 15 14 18
  Hypercholesterolemia 18 17 17 17
  High LDL cholesterol 19 16 14 16
  Low HDL cholesterol 38 33 39 39
  Hypertension 17 17 15 15

Abbreviations: PM10 = particulate matter <10µm in aerodynamic diameter; BMI = body mass index; CRP = C-reactive protein; LDL = low density lipoprotein; HDL = high density lipoprotein.

a

High risk levels of outcome variables were defined according to American Heart Association guidelines; hypertriglyceridemia was defined as triglycerides ≥ 200 mg/dL, hypercholesterolemia was defined as total cholesterol ≥ 240 mg/dL, high LDL cholesterol was defined as LDL cholesterol ≥ 160 mg/dL, low HDL cholesterol was defined as HDL cholesterol < 40 mg/dL (males) or < 50 mg/dL (females), and hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mm Hg.