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Short-term effects of multiple ozone metrics on daily mortality in a megacity of China

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Abstract

Epidemiological studies have widely demonstrated association between ambient ozone and mortality, though controversy remains, and most of them only use a certain metric to assess ozone levels. However, in China, few studies have investigated the acute effects of ambient ozone, and rare studies have compared health effects of multiple daily metrics of ozone. The present analysis aimed to explore variability of estimated health effects by using multiple temporal ozone metrics. Six metrics of ozone, 1-h maximum, maximum 8-h average, 24-h average, daytime average, nighttime average, and commute average, were used in a time-series study to investigate acute mortality associated with ambient ozone pollution in Guangzhou, China, using 3 years of daily data (2006–2008). We used generalized linear models with Poisson regression incorporating natural spline functions to analyze the mortality, ozone, and covariate data. We also examined the association by season. Daily 1- and 8-h maximum, 24-h average, and daytime average concentrations yielded statistically significant associations with mortality. An interquartile range (IQR) of O3 metric increase of each ozone metric (lag 2) corresponds to 2.92 % (95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.24 to 5.66), 3.60 % (95 % CI, 0.92 to 8.49), 3.03 % (95 % CI, 0.57 to 15.8), and 3.31 % (95 % CI, 0.69 to 10.4) increase in daily non-accidental mortality, respectively. Nighttime and commute metrics were weakly associated with increased mortality rate. The associations between ozone and mortality appeared to be more evident during cool season than in the warm season. Results were robust to adjustment for co-pollutants, weather, and time trend. In conclusion, these results indicated that ozone, as a widespread pollutant, adversely affects mortality in Guangzhou.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (project numbers: 21277135, 40905069, 41205081), Beijing National Natural Science Foundation (project number: 8132048), China Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Charity Special Fund (project number: 201009032), and Guangdong Province medical fund (project number: B2012072)

Compliance with ethical standards

We confirm that the manuscript has been read and approved by all named authors and that there are no other persons who satisfied the criteria for authorship but are not listed. We also confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication and there has been no significant financial support for this work that could have influenced its outcome.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Institute for Environmental Health and Related Product Safety, No. 29 Nanwei Road, Xicheng District, Beijing, 100050, China

    Tiantian Li & Jie Ban

  2. State Key Lab of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, No. 5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100871, China

    Meilin Yan & Zhaorong Liu

  3. Guangdong Institute of Public Health, No. 160 Qunxian Road, Dashi Street, Panyu District, Guangzhou, 511430, China

    Wenjun Ma, Tao Liu & Hualiang Lin

Authors
  1. Tiantian Li
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  2. Meilin Yan
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  3. Wenjun Ma
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  4. Jie Ban
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  5. Tao Liu
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  6. Hualiang Lin
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  7. Zhaorong Liu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Tiantian Li or Zhaorong Liu.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Michael Matthies

Tiantian Li, Meilin Yan, and Wenjun Ma are co-first authors.

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Li, T., Yan, M., Ma, W. et al. Short-term effects of multiple ozone metrics on daily mortality in a megacity of China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 8738–8746 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-4055-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-4055-5

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