TY - JOUR

T1 - Exposure to ultrafine particles and respiratory hospitalisations in five European cities

AU - Samoli, Evangelia

AU - Andersen, Zorana Jovanovic

AU - Katsouyanni, Klea

AU - Hennig, Frauke

AU - Kuhlbusch, Thomas A J

AU - Bellander, Tom

AU - Cattani, Giorgio

AU - Cyrys, Josef

AU - Forastiere, Francesco

AU - Jacquemin, Bénédicte

AU - Kulmala, Markku

AU - Lanki, Timo

AU - Loft, Steffen

AU - Massling, Andreas

AU - Tobias, Aurelio

AU - Stafoggia, Massimo

AU - UF&HEALTH Study group

N1 - Copyright ©ERS 2016.

PY - 2016/9

Y1 - 2016/9

N2 - Epidemiological evidence on the associations between exposure to ultrafine particles (UFP), with aerodynamic electrical mobility diameters <100 nm, and health is limited. We gathered data on UFP from five European cities within 2001-2011 to investigate associations between short-term changes in concentrations and respiratory hospitalisations.We applied city-specific Poisson regression models and combined city-specific estimates to obtain pooled estimates. We evaluated the sensitivity of our findings to co-pollutant adjustment and investigated effect modification patterns by period of the year, age at admission and specific diagnoses.Our results for the whole time period do not support an association between UFP and respiratory hospitalisations, although we found suggestive associations among those 0-14 years old. We nevertheless report consistent adverse effect estimates during the warm period of the year, statistically significant after lag 2 when an increase by 10 000 particles per cm(3) was associated with a 4.27% (95% CI 1.68-6.92%) increase in hospitalisations. These effect estimates were robust to particles' mass or gaseous pollutants adjustment.Considering that our findings during the warm period may reflect better exposure assessment and that the main source of non-soluble UFP in urban areas is traffic, our results call for improved regulation of traffic emissions.

AB - Epidemiological evidence on the associations between exposure to ultrafine particles (UFP), with aerodynamic electrical mobility diameters <100 nm, and health is limited. We gathered data on UFP from five European cities within 2001-2011 to investigate associations between short-term changes in concentrations and respiratory hospitalisations.We applied city-specific Poisson regression models and combined city-specific estimates to obtain pooled estimates. We evaluated the sensitivity of our findings to co-pollutant adjustment and investigated effect modification patterns by period of the year, age at admission and specific diagnoses.Our results for the whole time period do not support an association between UFP and respiratory hospitalisations, although we found suggestive associations among those 0-14 years old. We nevertheless report consistent adverse effect estimates during the warm period of the year, statistically significant after lag 2 when an increase by 10 000 particles per cm(3) was associated with a 4.27% (95% CI 1.68-6.92%) increase in hospitalisations. These effect estimates were robust to particles' mass or gaseous pollutants adjustment.Considering that our findings during the warm period may reflect better exposure assessment and that the main source of non-soluble UFP in urban areas is traffic, our results call for improved regulation of traffic emissions.

KW - Journal Article

U2 - 10.1183/13993003.02108-2015

DO - 10.1183/13993003.02108-2015

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 27338189

VL - 48

SP - 674

EP - 682

JO - The European Respiratory Journal

JF - The European Respiratory Journal

SN - 0903-1936

IS - 3

ER -