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Short-term exposure to particulate air pollution and risk of myocardial infarction: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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Abstract

A growing number of studies have associated short-term exposure to ambient particulate matter air pollution (PM) and risk of specific cardiovascular events, just as myocardial infarction (MI). However, the results of the recent studies were inconsistent; therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis was performed. To synthetically quantify the association between short-term exposure to PM and risk of MI, a meta-analysis was conducted to combine the estimates of effect for a relationship between short-term exposure to PM10, PM2.5 (particulate matter ≤ 10 μm, 2.5 μm in diameter) and risk of MI. Electronic database searches for all relevant published studies were updated in January 2015. And, a random-effects model was performed to estimate pooled relative risk (RR) and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI). Thirty-one published observational epidemiological studies were identified. Risk of MI was significantly associated with per 10 μg/m3 increment in PM10 (OR = 1.005; 95 % CI 1.001–1.008) and PM2.5 (OR = 1.022; 95 % CI 1.015–1.030). The risk of PM2.5 exposure was relatively greater than PM10. In the subgroup analysis by study design, location, quality score, and lag exposure, the results were basically consistent with the former overall results in PM2.5 but slightly changed in PM10. Short-term exposure to particulate matter (PM2.5, PM10) was a risk factor for MI, and the results further confirmed the discovery in the previous meta-analysis.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by the Science Research Fund of Anhui Province (090413265X). We would like to thank all participants in our study.

Conflict of interest

We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Cardiology Medical, The Second People’s Hospital of Hefei, Heping Road, Hefei, Anhui, China

      Chunmiao Luo

    2. Department of Occupational and Environmental, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Meishan Road, Hefei, Anhui, China

      Xiaoxia Zhu, Cijiang Yao, Lijuan Hou & Jian Zhang

    3. The Teaching Center for Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Meishan Road, Hefei, Anhui, China

      Jiyu Cao

    4. Department of Cardiology Medical, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Jixi Road, Hefei, Anhui, China

      Ailing Wang

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    1. Chunmiao Luo
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    Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

    Chunmiao Luo and Xiaoxia Zhu contributed equally to this work.

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    Luo, C., Zhu, X., Yao, C. et al. Short-term exposure to particulate air pollution and risk of myocardial infarction: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 14651–14662 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5188-x

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