Canadian Health Impacts to Long-Term Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter

Risk of Non-accidental and Cardiovascular Mortality in Relation to Long-term Exposure to Low Concentrations of Fine Particulate Matter: A Canadian National-level Cohort Study (29 page pdf, Dan L. Crouse, Paul A. Peters, Aaron van Donkelaar,Mark S. Goldberg, Paul J.Villeneuve, Orly Brion, Saeeda Khan, Dominic Odwa Atari, Michael Jerrett, C. Arden Pope III, Michael Brauer, Jeffrey R. Brook, Randall V. Martin, David Stieb, Richard T. Burnett, Environ Health Perspect, Feb.7, 2012) Today, we review a study that assesses the mortality health risk for native born Canadians from long term exposure to fine particulate matter which is higher in the Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto-Windsor corridor than elsewhere in the country. The authors concluded that there is a 31% increased risk of ischemic heart disease with an increase of 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5, a higher increase in health risk than previously estimated (12-14%). Key Quotes: “A systematic review of the association between long-term exposure to ambient pollution and chronic diseases conducted by Chen et al. (2008) concluded that long-term exposure to PM2.5 increases the risk of cardiovascular mortality by approximately 12-14% per increase of 10- μg/m3, independent of age, sex, and geographic region” “This is one of the largest cohort studies, and the first national-level Canadian study, to evaluate the risk of mortality associated with long-term exposure to PM2.5” “concentrations of PM2.5 were highest in urban areas, along the corridor between Windsor and Quebec City, and in the prairies of southern Saskatchewan and Alberta” “We found positive and statistically significant associations between non-accidental mortality and estimates of PM2.5 generated from both satellite-derived and ground-based observations in a large cohort of non-immigrant Canadians 25 years of age and older” “we estimated increased risks of mortality of 15% ..from non-accidental causes and 31%.. from ischemic heart disease for each 10-μg/m3 increase in concentrations of PM2.5

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