Short-term exposure to PM2.5 and ozone were significantly associate with mortality risk without evidence of a threshold, in a study on the entire Medicare population. Researchers at the Harvard/MIT ACE center examined all-cause mortality risk associated with same-day and prior day exposure to PM2.5 and ozone (adjusting for simultaneous exposure) in a case-crossover design applied Read More
Category: Science
Nitrogen oxides and Interstitial Lung Disease
Exposure to nitrogen oxides was associated with Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) in a study on older adults part of the MESA Air project at the University of Washington. ILD is a group of chronic lung diseases characterized by pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis, affecting about 0.5% of older adults, and generally diagnosed late in the disease Read More
Factors in PM2.5 mortality
Numerous factors affect the association between PM2.5 and mortality, including individual and neighborhood socioeconomic status, PM composition and temperature. In a study of 13 million Medicare beneficiaries (older than 65) conducted in the SouthEastern US, researchers at the Harvard ACE Center examined exposures using a hybrid spatio-temporal model that represented more accurately rural populations and Read More
Air pollution and HDL cholesterol
Exposure to black carbon and PM2.5 was found to be associated with lower measures of desirable HDL cholesterol in a paper based on the Multi-ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) cohort. As a part of the MESA Air study led by the University of Washington, investigators examined the association of PM2.5 and black carbon exposures with Read More
Coarse PM and heart structure alterations
Exposure to coarse particles (PM10-2.5) was associated with right-ventricular effects in the heart of susceptible participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Right-ventricular dysfunction (and enlargement) is a common sequela of chronic respiratory disease. This analysis was based on 5-year exposures calculated through land-use regression models, and magnetic resonance images from 1,490 adult participants. An Read More
Traffic and fatty liver disease
Proximity to major roadways was associated with fat accumulation in the liver, in a recently published study from the Harvard Clean Air Research Center. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (hepatic steatosis) is a common condition, closely linked with indicators of cardiometabolic syndrome (cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance). Over 2,000 participants from the Framingham Offspring Study and Read More
Wildfires and respiratory hospitalization
Exposure to wildfire-specific PM2.5 was associated with increased respiratory hospitalization. In a study with the Medicare population in the Western United States, researchers from the Harvard Clean Air Research Center estimated exposures to wildfire-specific PM2.5 using a global chemical transport model, between 2004 and 2009. About 5 million Medicare participants were exposed to at least Read More
Heat waves and social media
Social media activity can be used to examine exposure to heat waves in US cities, based on a study at Florida State University. Although a variety of weather metrics have been used in association with health outcomes, such heat exposure metrics do not account for distance from weather station, the effects of ventilation and air Read More
PM2.5 effects below standards
Exposure to PM2.5 at level near or below existing National Ambient Air Quality Standards was associated with increased hospital admissions in a population of Medicare enrollees. Analyzing records of 32,119 people in 5,138 ZIP codes in the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey between 2002 and 2010, researchers part of the Harvard ACE Center found that average Read More
Indoor air and “smart homes”
Human behavior inside a home strongly affects indoor air quality, based on a study in sensors-rich “smart homes” environments. Researchers at Washington State University measured air pollutants (PM, ozone, CO2, and 13 organic compounds) inside two home fitted with a variety of sensors to detect human presence and activities, such as motion, ambient light, window Read More