Short-term Exposure to Particulate Matter Constituents and Mortality in a National Study of U.S. Urban Communities

Background: Although the association between PM2.5 mass and mortality has been extensively studied, few national-level analyses have estimated mortality effects of PM2.5 chemical constituents. Epidemiologic studies have reported that estimated effects of PM2.5 on mortality vary spatially and seasonally. We hypothesized that associations between PM2.5 constituents and mortality would not vary spatially or seasonally if variation in chemical composition contributes to variation in estimated PM2.5 mortality effects. Objectives: We aimed to provide the first national, season-specific, and region-specific associations between mortality and PM2.5 constituents. Methods: We estimated short-term associations between nonaccidental mortality and PM2.5 constituents across 72 urban U.S. communities from 2000 to 2005. Using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Chemical Speciation Network data, we analyzed seven constituents that together compose 79–85% of PM2.5 mass: organic carbon matter (OCM), elemental carbon (EC), silicon, sodium ion, nitrate, ammonium, and sulfate. We applied Poisson time-series regression models, controlling for time and weather, to estimate mortality effects. Results: Interquartile range increases in OCM, EC, silicon, and sodium ion were associated with estimated increases in mortality of 0.39% [95% posterior interval (PI): 0.08, 0.70%], 0.22% (95% PI: 0.00, 0.44), 0.17% (95% PI: 0.03, 0.30), and 0.16% (95% PI: 0.00, 0.32), respectively, based on single-pollutant models. We did not find evidence that associations between mortality and PM2.5 or PM2.5 constituents differed by season or region. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that some constituents of PM2.5 may be more toxic than others and, therefore, regulating PM total mass alone may not be sufficient to protect human health. Citation: Krall JR, Anderson GB, Dominici F, Bell ML, Peng RD. 2013. Short-term exposure to particulate matter constituents and mortality in a national study of U.S. urban communities. Environ Health Perspect 121:1148–1153; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1206185

[1]  L. Sheppard,et al.  The Temporal Lag Structure of Short-term Associations of Fine Particulate Matter Chemical Constituents and Cardiovascular and Respiratory Hospitalizations , 2012, Environmental health perspectives.

[2]  D. Krewski,et al.  ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PARTICULATE- AND GAS-PHASE COMPONENTS OF URBAN AIR POLLUTION AND DAILY MORTALITY IN EIGHT CANADIAN CITIES , 2000, Inhalation toxicology.

[3]  Ronald H. White,et al.  Particulate air pollution and mortality in the United States: did the risks change from 1987 to 2000? , 2007, American journal of epidemiology.

[4]  F. Dominici,et al.  Emergency Admissions for Cardiovascular and Respiratory Diseases and the Chemical Composition of Fine Particle Air Pollution , 2009, Environmental health perspectives.

[5]  S L Zeger,et al.  Exposure measurement error in time-series studies of air pollution: concepts and consequences. , 2000, Environmental health perspectives.

[6]  Petros Koutrakis,et al.  Prenatal Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter and Birth Weight: Variations by Particulate Constituents and Sources , 2010, Epidemiology.

[7]  Scott L. Zeger,et al.  Spatial and Temporal Variation in PM2.5 Chemical Composition in the United States for Health Effects Studies , 2007, Environmental health perspectives.

[8]  P. Paatero,et al.  PM source apportionment and health effects: 1. Intercomparison of source apportionment results , 2006, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.

[9]  Roger D Peng,et al.  Spatial misalignment in time series studies of air pollution and health data. , 2010, Biostatistics.

[10]  F. Dominici,et al.  Seasonal and regional short-term effects of fine particles on hospital admissions in 202 US counties, 1999-2005. , 2008, American journal of epidemiology.

[11]  Antonella Zanobetti,et al.  Fine particulate air pollution and its components in association with cause-specific emergency admissions , 2009, Environmental health : a global access science source.

[12]  R. Burnett,et al.  Lung cancer, cardiopulmonary mortality, and long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution. , 2002, JAMA.

[13]  Lianne Sheppard,et al.  Does more accurate exposure prediction necessarily improve health effect estimates? , 2011, Epidemiology.

[14]  Kazuhiko Ito,et al.  PM source apportionment and health effects. 3. Investigation of inter-method variations in associations between estimated source contributions of PM2.5 and daily mortality in Phoenix, AZ , 2006, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.

[15]  F. Dominici,et al.  A measurement error model for time-series studies of air pollution and mortality. , 2000, Biostatistics.

[16]  J. Schwartz,et al.  The Effect of Fine and Coarse Particulate Air Pollution on Mortality: A National Analysis , 2009, Environmental health perspectives.

[17]  J. Sarnat,et al.  Multipollutant modeling issues in a study of ambient air quality and emergency department visits in Atlanta , 2007, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.

[18]  B. Ostro,et al.  Fine Particulate Air Pollution and Mortality in Nine California Counties: Results from CALFINE , 2005, Environmental health perspectives.

[19]  F. Dominici,et al.  Fine particulate air pollution and hospital admission for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. , 2006, JAMA.

[20]  J. Schwartz,et al.  Modeling the association between particle constituents of air pollution and health outcomes. , 2012, American journal of epidemiology.

[21]  Francesca Dominici,et al.  Estimating the acute health effects of coarse particulate matter accounting for exposure measurement error. , 2011, Biostatistics.

[22]  J. Schwartz,et al.  The National Morbidity, Mortality, and Air Pollution Study. Part II: Morbidity and mortality from air pollution in the United States. , 2000, Research report.

[23]  Petros Koutrakis,et al.  The Role of Particle Composition on the Association Between PM2.5 and Mortality , 2008, Epidemiology.

[24]  Francesca Dominici,et al.  Systematic Reviews and Meta-and Pooled Analyses A Meta-Analysis and Multisite Time-Series Analysis of the Differential Toxicity of Major Fine Particulate Matter Constituents , 2012 .

[25]  Kazuhiko Ito,et al.  A Source Apportionment of U.S. Fine Particulate Matter Air Pollution. , 2011, Atmospheric environment.

[26]  F. Dominici,et al.  Seasonal analyses of air pollution and mortality in 100 US cities. , 2005, American journal of epidemiology.

[27]  R. Dales,et al.  Components of Particulate Air Pollution and Mortality in Chile , 2009, International journal of occupational and environmental health.

[28]  Michael Lipsett,et al.  The Effects of Components of Fine Particulate Air Pollution on Mortality in California: Results from CALFINE , 2006, Environmental health perspectives.

[29]  G A Norris,et al.  Associations between air pollution and mortality in Phoenix, 1995-1997. , 2000, Environmental health perspectives.

[30]  Kazuhiko Ito,et al.  Spatial variation of PM2.5 chemical species and source-apportioned mass concentrations in New York City , 2004 .

[31]  Roger D Peng,et al.  Community-level spatial heterogeneity of chemical constituent levels of fine particulates and implications for epidemiological research , 2011, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.

[32]  Richard B Schlesinger,et al.  The Health Impact of Common Inorganic Components of Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) in Ambient Air: A Critical Review , 2007, Inhalation toxicology.

[33]  Kazuhiko Ito,et al.  Fine Particulate Matter Constituents Associated with Cardiovascular Hospitalizations and Mortality in New York City , 2010, Environmental health perspectives.

[34]  Annette C. Rohr,et al.  Attributing health effects to individual particulate matter constituents , 2012 .

[35]  Kazuhiko Ito,et al.  Time-Series Analysis of Mortality Effects of Fine Particulate Matter Components in Detroit and Seattle , 2010, Environmental health perspectives.

[36]  L. Waller,et al.  Ambient Air Pollution and Preterm Birth: A Time-series Analysis , 2009, Epidemiology.

[37]  L. Lave,et al.  Effect of the Fine Fraction of Particulate Matter versus the Coarse Mass and Other Pollutants on Daily Mortality in Santiago, Chile , 2000, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association.

[38]  J. Schwartz,et al.  Association between PM2.5 and all-cause and specific-cause mortality in 27 US communities , 2007, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.

[39]  Qun Xu,et al.  Fine Particulate Matter Constituents and Cardiopulmonary Mortality in a Heavily Polluted Chinese City , 2012, Environmental health perspectives.

[40]  Wei Huang,et al.  Seasonal variation of chemical species associated with short-term mortality effects of PM(2.5) in Xi'an, a Central City in China. , 2012, American journal of epidemiology.

[41]  Brian J. Reich,et al.  Spatial-temporal association between fine particulate matter and daily mortality , 2009, Comput. Stat. Data Anal..

[42]  Francesca Dominici,et al.  Coarse particulate matter air pollution and hospital admissions for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases among Medicare patients. , 2008, JAMA.

[43]  Francesca Dominici,et al.  Hospital admissions and chemical composition of fine particle air pollution. , 2009, American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine.