Ambient Fine Particulate Matter and Deaths from Heart Diseases in the Contiguous U.S.

• Activity Number: 86
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Sunday, August 3, 2014 : 4:00 PM to 5:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistics and the Environment
• Author(s): Yongping Hao*+ and Lina Balluz and Heather Strosnider and Xiao Jun Wen and Chaoyang Li and Judith R. Qualters
• Companies: CDC and CDC and CDC and CDC and CDC and CDC
• Keywords: Heart Diseases ; Fine Particular Matter ; Bayesian Hierarchical Model ; Spatial Mixture Model ; Air Pollution ; Spatial Random Effects

Abstract

Background: Epidemiological studies have shown a link between cardiovascular disease mortality and exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5). However, most studies have been limited to metropolitan areas or cities. Methods: This nationwide study examines the ecologic association between ambient PM2.5 and deaths from heart diseases in 3109 contiguous 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 average daily PM2.5 (2001-2008) to represent long-term exposure. We fit Bayesian hierarchical Poisson models with mixed spatial random effects at state and county levels to account for spatial heterogeneity and 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: Ambient PM2.5 might be associated with increased risk of death from heart diseases in the contiguous U.S. Although we adjusted for observed covariates and unobserved influences, the possibility of some ecologic bias remains.