Higher Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Associated with Smaller Size-Fractioned Particulate Matter
Peng Yin, Jianping Guo, Lijun Wang, Wenhong Fan, Feng Lu, Moning Guo, Silvia B. R. Moreno, Ying Wang, Hao Wang, Maigeng Zhou, Zhaomin Dong
Abstract
No nationwide studies have examined the associations between mortality risk and PM1 (PM with an aerodynamic diameter of <1 μm) due to the scarcity of monitoring data of PM1. On the basis of newly released national scale PM1 data, we performed a time series analysis to elucidate the cause-specific mortality risk caused by PM1 exposure in China. During the period from January 2014 to December 2017, the PM1 levels in 65 cities of China were on average 37 ± 32 μg/m3. Pooled results indicated a 10 μg/m3 increase in the PM1 level was associated with a 0.19% [95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.09–0.28%] increased risk in nonaccidental mortality, which was almost the same as that for PM2.5 (0.18%, 95% CI of 0.08–0.27%) and PM10 (0.17%, 95% CI of 0.01–0.24%). By comparison, the magnitude increased to 0.29% (0.12–0.47%) in cardiovascular disease for each 10 μg/m3 uptick in PM1, which was significantly higher than that related to PM2.5 and PM10 exposure. This nationwide study supported the notion that PM1 may be a higher risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which suggests rapid action is warranted to put more effort into mitigating the emissions of finer particulate matters.