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The acute effects of fine particles on respiratory mortality and morbidity in Beijing, 2004–2009

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Abstract

Recent epidemiological and toxicological studies have shown associations between particulate matter and human health. However, the estimates of adverse health effects are inconsistent across many countries and areas. The stratification and interaction models were employed within the context of the generalized additive Poisson regression equation to examine the acute effects of fine particles on respiratory health and to explore the possible joint modification of temperature, humidity, and season in Beijing, China, for the period 2004–2009. The results revealed that the respiratory health damage threshold of the PM2.5 concentration was mainly within the range of 20–60 μg/m3, and the adverse effect of excessively high PM2.5 concentration maintained a stable level. In the most serious case, an increase of 10 μg/m3 PM2.5 results in an elevation of 4.60 % (95 % CI 3.84–4.60 %) and 4.48 % (95 % CI 3.53–5.41 %) with a lag of 3 days, values far higher than the average level of 0.69 % (95 % CI 0.54–0.85 %) and 1.32 % (95 % CI 1.02–1.61 %) for respiratory mortality and morbidity, respectively. There were strong seasonal patterns of adverse effects with the seasonal variation of temperature and humidity. The growth rates of respiratory mortality and morbidity were highest in winter. And, they increased 1.4 and 1.8 times in winter, greater than in the full year as PM2.5 increased 10 μg/m3.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41222033), the CAS Strategic Priority Research Program Grant (XDA05100102, XDB05020200).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Semi-arid Climate Change of Ministry of Education, College of Atmospheric Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China, 730000

    Pei Li & Shigong Wang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, 100029

    Pei Li, Jinyuan Xin, Yuesi Wang, Zirui Liu & Lili Wang

  3. Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China, 100191

    Guoxing Li & Xiaochuan Pan

  4. Unit 93534 of PLA, Beijing, China, 101212

    Pei Li

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  1. Pei Li
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Correspondence to Jinyuan Xin.

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Li, P., Xin, J., Wang, Y. et al. The acute effects of fine particles on respiratory mortality and morbidity in Beijing, 2004–2009. Environ Sci Pollut Res 20, 6433–6444 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-1688-8

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