Particle surface area, ultrafine particle number concentration, and cardiovascular hospitalizations

Shao Lin; Ian Ryan; Sanchita Paul; Xinlei Deng; Wangjian Zhang; Gan Luo; Guang-Hui Dong; Arshad Nair; Fangqun Yu

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119795

Particle surface area, ultrafine particle number concentration, and cardiovascular hospitalizations

Environ Pollut. 2022 Oct 1:310:119795. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119795. Epub 2022 Jul 19.

Authors

Shao Lin¹, Ian Ryan², Sanchita Paul³, Xinlei Deng², Wangjian Zhang⁴, Gan Luo⁵, Guang-Hui Dong⁶, Arshad Nair⁵, Fangqun Yu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York, Rensselaer, NY, USA; Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University at Albany, State University of New York, Rensselaer, NY, USA. Electronic address: slin@albany.edu.
² Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York, Rensselaer, NY, USA.
³ Department of Environmental & Sustainable Engineering, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA.
⁴ Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
⁵ Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA.
⁶ School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.

PMID: 35863707
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119795

Abstract

While the health impacts of larger particulate matter, such as PM₁₀ and PM_2.5, have been studied extensively, research regarding ultrafine particles (UFPs or PM_0.1) and particle surface area concentration (PSC) is lacking. This case-crossover study assessed the associations between exposure to PSC and UFP number concentration (UFPnc) and hospital admissions for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in New York State (NYS), 2013-2018. We used a time-stratified case-crossover design to compare the PSC and UFPnc levels between hospitalization days and control days (similar days without admissions) for each CVD case. We utilized NYS hospital discharge data to identify all CVD cases who resided in NYS. UFP simulation data from GEOS-Chem-APM, a state-of-the-art chemical transport model, was used to define PSC and UFPnc. Using a multi-pollutant model and conditional logistic regression, we assessed excess risk (ER)% per inter-quartile change of PSC and UFPnc after controlling for meteorological factors, co-pollutants, and time-varying variables. We found immediate and lasting associations between PSC and overall CVDs (lag0-lag0-6: ERs% (95% CI%) ranges: 0.4 (0.1,0.7) - 0.9 (0.7-1.2), and delayed and prolonged ERs%: 0.1-0.3 (95% CIs: 0.1-0.5) between UFPnc and CVDs (lag0-3-lag0-6). Exposure to larger PSC was associated with immediate ER increases in stroke, hypertension, and ischemic heart diseases (1.1%, 0.7%, 0.8%, respectively, all p < 0.05). The adverse effects of PSC on CVDs were highest among children (5-17 years old), in the fall and winter, and during cold temperatures. In conclusion, we found an immediate, lasting effects of PSC on overall CVDs and a delayed, prolonged impact of UFPnc. PSC was a more sensitive indicator than UFPnc. The PSC effects were higher among certain CVD subtypes, in children, in certain seasons, and during cold days. Further studies are needed to validate our findings and evaluate the long-term effects.

Keywords: Air pollution exposure; Cardiovascular admission; Lag effect; Particle surface area; Seasonality; Ultrafine particles; Vulnerable population.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Air Pollutants*
Air Pollution*
Cardiovascular Diseases*
Child
Child, Preschool
Cross-Over Studies
Environmental Exposure
Hospitalization
Humans
Particulate Matter

Substances

Air Pollutants
Particulate Matter