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Title

The short-term association of selected components of fine particulate matter and mortality in the Denver Aerosol Sources and Health (DASH) study.

Authors

Sun-Young Kim
Steven J Dutton
Lianne Sheppard
Michael P Hannigan
Shelly L Miller
Jana B Milford
Jennifer L Peel
Sverre Vedal

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-6-2015

Publication Title

Environmental health : a global access science source

ISSN

1476-069X

Volume

14

First Page

49

Last Page

49

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-015-0037-4

PubMed ID

26047618

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Associations of short-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) with daily mortality may be due to specific PM2.5 chemical components. Daily concentrations of PM2.5 components were measured over five years in Denver to investigate whether specific PM2.5 components are associated with daily mortality.

METHODS: Daily counts of total and cause-specific deaths were obtained for the 5-county Denver metropolitan region from 2003 through 2007. Daily 24-hour concentrations of PM2.5, elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), sulfate and nitrate were measured at a central residential monitoring site. Using generalized additive models, we estimated relative risks (RRs) of daily death counts for daily PM2.5 and four PM2.5 component concentrations at single and distributed lags between the current and three previous days, while controlling for longer-term time trend and meteorology.

RESULTS: RR of total non-accidental mortality for an inter-quartile increase of 4.55 μg/m(3) in PM2.5 distributed over 4 days was 1.012 (95 % confidence interval: 0.999, 1.025); RRs for EC and OC were larger (1.024 [1.005, 1.043] and 1.020 [1.000, 1.040] for 0.33 and 1.67 μg/m(3) increases, respectively) than those for sulfate and nitrate. We generally did not observe associations with cardiovascular and respiratory mortality except for associations with ischemic heart disease mortality at lags 3 and 0-3 depending on the component. In addition, there were associations with cancer mortality, particularly for EC and OC, possibly reflecting advanced deaths of a frail population.

CONCLUSIONS: PM2.5 components possibly from combustion-related sources are more strongly associated with daily mortality than are secondary inorganic aerosols.

Comments

See attached file for erratum.

Recommended Citation

Kim, Sun-Young; Dutton, Steven J; Sheppard, Lianne; Hannigan, Michael P; Miller, Shelly L; Milford, Jana B; Peel, Jennifer L; and Vedal, Sverre, "The short-term association of selected components of fine particulate matter and mortality in the Denver Aerosol Sources and Health (DASH) study." (2015). Mechanical Engineering Faculty Contributions. 75.
https://scholar.colorado.edu/mcen_facpapers/75